国际英语新闻:Hamas says to hand over Gaza crossings to PNA on Oct. 31

GAZA, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- Yehya Sinwar, chief of Islamic Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip, announced on Tuesday that the crossing points of the coastal enclave will be handed over to the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) on Oct. 31.

Sinwar made his remarks during a meeting held at a Gaza city seaside resort with heads of unions and local organizations in the Gaza Strip.

Hamas has agreed to hand over control of Gaza to PNA in an Egyptian-brokered reconciliation deal reached between Hamas and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah Party in Cairo on Oct. 12.

"Hamas intends to zero all its internal differences, especially with Fatah, as well as with all Arab countries," Sinwar said, adding that "Hamas made a strategic decision to go for internal reconciliation and doesn't intend to regret it or withdraw it."

Hamas had violently seized control of the Gaza Strip in mid 2007 and routed Abbas security forces. Since then, feuds and differences between the rivals had turned life of more than 2 million Gazan people into misery.

"We will burn all the bridges that the internal reconciliation went through because we don't want to retreat or go back to the first quarter," said Sinwar, who was elected as the movement's chief in Gaza in March.

Asked about the arms of his group's armed wing al-Qassam Brigades, Sinwar said "these arms are the Palestinian people's ownership, so we accumulate and develop our arms to use it for liberation and not for internal conflicts."

He also called on Abbas to visit Gaza and chair the meetings of his Fatah Party's central committee and the meetings of Palestine Liberation Organization executive committee.