http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071025/wl_afp/mideastisraelhamasdiplomacy_071025151322

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas said on Thursday that meetings have taken place between Israel and the Islamist movement Hamas which controls the Gaza Strip.

But both Israel and Hamas quickly denied that such talks had taken place.

“We have information that some Hamas men are meeting with the Israelis at Erez (on the Israel-Gaza border). This information is almost confirmed,” Abbas said after meeting Jordan’s King Abdullah II.

“I don’t know if the meeting was for normalisation or to calm things down,” Abbas said, according to the royal palace.

Israel, which boycotts Hamas as a terrorist organisation, categorically denied any such meetings. “This is utter nonsense,” said Miri Eisin, spokeswoman for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

A spokesman for Hamas, which does not recognise Israel’s right to exist, also issued a denial.

“These are baseless allegations. He wants to justify the meetings he himself is holding with the Israeli occupier despite continued Israeli aggression against our people,” Samir Abu Zuhri told AFP.

Abbas is due to hold talks with Olmert on Friday as part of preparations for a Middle East conference in the United States this year despite mutual recriminations over poor progress to date.