Hamas welcomes 'positive' speech by Abbas

The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas on Saturday welcomed the "positive" speech by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to the PLO leadership in which he signed the reconciliation agreement reached earlier this week.

"We can only support its positions on Jerusalem, reconciliation and non-recognition of the Jewish state, as well as the failure of negotiations," Bassem Naim, a Hamas leader in Gaza, told AFP. "The speech was mostly positive." (AFP)