Al-Assad to follow up on Palestinian dialogue (Extra)

Mar 30, 2008, 12:28 GMT

Damascus - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad will follow up on the dialogue between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, Syria's Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem said on Sunday.

'President Assad will be in contact with Hamas and the Palestinian Authority leaders. He'll follow up the dialogue and the proposals in order to end the status of Palestinian internal division,' al-Moallem said

He made the statement in a joint news conference with Arab League Secretary General of the Arab League Amr Mussa at the end of the two- day Arab summit hosted by Syria.

Weeks of infighting between Hamas and the Fatah movement of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Fatah, culminated in Hamas' takeover of the Gaza Strip in June after routing Abbas' security forces.

After nine months of disputes and differences between the two sides, Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh came up with a seven- clause initiative aiming at ending the inter-Palestinian differences.

The Yemeni initiative calls on Hamas to end give up the Gaza Strip, start immediate dialogue with Abbas and Fatah and hold early presidential and legislative elections.

Both Fatah and Hamas accepted the Yemeni initiative of reconciliation. However, Fatah demanded an immediate implementation of the initiative, while Hamas said the initiative has to be negotiated and not implemented.

'President Assad will contact both sides, and will convey to Yemen what he gets to follow up the initiative. The Arab efforts will also continue to follow up the initiative's implementation,' said al-Moallem.

Meanwhile, Mussa told reporters 'the Yemeni initiative is right now on the table and all parties will cooperate and work together in order to see it implemented as soon as possible.'