Hamas PM: Foreign visits broke political blockade

Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haneya arrived in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday night after his first tour in years, saying that he managed to break the political blockade imposed by Israel on the enclave. "The tour broke the siege imposed on the government, on the Gaza Strip and on Palestine," Haneya said, adding that he visited the four countries mainly for the issues of "Palestine and al-Aqsa Mosque." Haneya crossed into the coastal enclave ruled by his movement through Rafah crossing on Egypt-Gaza borders. He told reporters that his tour was successful and he intends to go soon for another tour. Haneya visited Egypt, Sudan, Turkey and Tunisia in his first tour in years since Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007 and Israel imposed a tight blockade on the enclave. In Egypt, Sudan and Turkey, Haneya wasn't officially received as a prime minister of the Palestinians, but he was officially received in Tunisia as the official Palestinian premier, a move that angered Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.