World Infomatoin Tuesday

Abbas meets Syria based Palestinian
chiefs but Hamas
Agence France-Presse . Damascus

The Palestinian president, Mahmud Abbas, has met Palestinian leaders based in Damascus, excluding the political chief of the rival Hamas movement, a member of his delegation said on Monday.
The meetings aim ‘to restore order in the Palestinian house. But Abbas will certainly not meet (Hamas leaders),’ the official said, asking not to be named.
On Monday, Abbas held talks with Ramadan Abdallah Shalah, who heads the radical group Islamic Jihad, but not Hamas political supremo Khaled Meshaal, who like Shalah is also exiled in Syria.
Abbas, head of the secular Fatah faction, met separately late Sunday with Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine leader Nayef Hawatmeh and with Maher Taher of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
The Syrian foreign minister, Walid Muallem, quoted in the government daily Tishrin, said his country was trying to find common ground between the Palestinian factions.
‘We are looking for a common platform between the Palestinian movements and the Authority (which Abbas heads) with a view to launching a dialogue for reconciliation and the unification of Palestinian ranks,’ he said.
In a meeting with Abbas on Sunday, the president, Bashar al-Assad, stressed ‘the need to exert every effort to achieve unity among Palestinian ranks as the sole means to recover their rights.’
Meshaal’s Hamas movement seized power in Gaza a year ago during deadly fighting with Fatah forces loyal to Abbas, effectively splitting the Palestinians into two entities.
Last month Abbas called for talks with Hamas, breaking with his previous position that the movement must relinquish power in Gaza before any negotiations can take place.