[QODLink]
Middle East
Abbas and Meshaal to meet in Syria
Talks follow the failure of Hamas and Fatah to form a coalition government.
Last Modified: 14 Jan 2007 11:19 GMT

Hamas and Fatah disagree over a political programme and control over key cabinet posts [AFP]

Envoys of the Palestinian president have been holding secret meetings with the top leader of the Hamas group in Syria.
 
Officials from both Fatah and Hamas said that significant progress had been made in secret talks over the past two weeks.
The talks aimed at ending Palestinian clashes and preparing new coalition talks.
 
Moussa Abu Marzouk, the deputy head of Hamas political bureau in Syria, said on Saturday that Mahmoud Abbas will come to Damascus early next week to meet Khaled Meshaal, the exiled Hamas chief and Syrian officials.

"I hope his [Abbas'] meetings in Damascus will be constructive and lead to solving all outstanding problems that have broken the dialogue in the past," said Abu Marzouk.

Your Views

"Unless the US administration is prepared to read the riot act to the Israeli government ... nothing will be achieved"

Nehad Ismail, London, UK

Send us your views

An Abbas aide confirmed that the Palestinian president planned to meet with Meshaal on Monday.

 

The secret talks were held between Meshaal and two Abbas envoys, Ziad Abu Amr, an independent legislator, and Mohammed Rashid, a former adviser to Yasser Arafat, the former Palestinian president.

  

Hamas and Fatah have repeatedly failed in recent months to form a coalition because of disagreements over a political programme and control over key cabinet posts.

 

Hamas has also balked at international demands that any Palestinian government recognises Israel, renounces violence and accepts existing peace deals.

Source:
Agencies
Topics in this article
People
Country
Organisation
Featured on Al Jazeera
In the frozen peaks of Afghanistan's Kunar province, a ferocious clash for supremacy rages amid the mountaintops.
Indigenous community with "third world conditions" sits 90km from diamond mine, prompting fight for resource royalties.
There is a unique and dangerous commerce system at work in Amazonia, where children risk their lives for a few pennies.
Organisations that influence social, cultural and political issues in the US have been hijacked by the far right.
<  > 
join our mailing list

Enter Zip Code
Go