Cairo/Gaza City - A senior Hamas official on Monday asked the Arab League to intervene to stop its members from being arrested in the West Bank.

In a rare appearance at the 22-member body's headquarters in Cairo, Mahmoud al-Zahar, a senior Hamas leader from the Gaza Strip, asked the Arab League to intervene to stop security forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' rival Palestinian faction, which controls Palestinian-administered areas of the West Bank, from arresting Hamas members there.

The issue has scuppered previous rounds of Egyptian-brokered talks between Hamas and Fatah, both of which accuse the other of arresting their members in the territories the other controls.

"The file of political arrests is the major obstacle obstructing dialogue," al-Zahar said. "This is why are totally convinced that the Fatah movement is not interested in reaching a reconciliation agreement."

Egyptian mediators have for months been trying to get the two sides to reach a compromise solution that would allow peace negotiations with Israel to resume and international aid to reach the Gaza Strip following Israel's 22-day bombardment of the territory last December and January.

The release of Hamas prisoners in the West Bank "would pave the way for resuming (Palestinian) dialogue and reaching a reconciliation deal," the Hamas leader told reporters in Cairo after meeting Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa.

"Hamas has asked Egypt to hold preparatory meetings with Fatah leaders before both (Hamas and Fatah) go to the coming round of talks scheduled for August 25 in Cairo," al-Zahar said.

Holding fresh elections "would be the best way to end the current feuds and rifts," al-Zahar said, but stipulated that fresh elections should not be held until a reconciliation agreement was reached.

"We can ... hold talks with Fatah even with the threats and arrests, when prisoners are badly tortured in prisons, and when there are now more than 1,000 prisoners," he said.

Hamas says Palestinian security forces in the West Bank now hold more than 1,000 of its members as political prisoners. Fatah officials deny the Hamas members are political prisoners, saying they have been arrested for such crimes as weapons possession or money laundering.

The dispute has become particularly rancorous since Hamas accused Fatah-affiliated security forces of killing a Hamas-affiliated prisoner in a jail in the West Bank town of Nablus. Prison officials said the prisoner committed suicide.(dpa)