Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh attends a news conference after a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin February 27, 2008. A top Hamas official said on Tuesday his group was ready to accept a Yemeni initiative for reconciliation with the rival Fatah, but did not say if that means it accepts to relinquish its grip over the Gaza strip. REUTERS/Johannes Eisele

DUBAI (Reuters) - A top Hamas official said on Tuesday his group was ready to accept a Yemeni initiative for reconciliation with the rival Fatah, but did not say if that means it accepts to relinquish its grip over the Gaza strip.

The Yemeni initiative calls for the situation in Gaza to return to the way it was before Hamas seized control of the territory last June and for early Palestinian elections to be held, conditions endorsed by Abbas and so far rejected by Hamas.

“The visit is to meet (Yemeni) President Ali Abdullah Saleh ... and inform him of the movement’s acceptance of the Yemeni initiative,” Hamas deputy politburo chief Moussa Abu Marzouk told Al Jazeera television in Sanaa where Fatah officials were due to meet Saleh.