Middle East News
Abbas to visit Syria Saturday
Jan 14, 2007, 17:55 GMT
Damascus - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas plans to visit Syria at the weekend, well-informed Palestinian sources said Sunday.
The sources, who declined to be identified, said Abbas would hold talks Saturday with Syrian officials and with the head of Hamas' political bureau, Khaled Mashaal, on ways to remove obstacles to the formation of a national-unity government and end the current fighting between the radical Islamist Hamas and Abbas' Fatah movements.
The two bitter political rivals have made repeated attempts in recent months to form a coalition, but the talks have failed because of disagreements over the political programme and control over key cabinet posts, such as interior and finance.
Hamas balked at international demands that any Palestinian government recognize Israel, renounce violence and accept existing peace deals.
Last month, in a challenge to Hamas, Abbas threatened to call early legislative and presidential elections, saying the Islamic militants have failed to provide basic services to the Palestinian people.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-AgenturCOMMENT
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