Mecca

     Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Damascus-based Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal were scheduled to meet today at the palace of Saudi King Abdullah in Mecca to agree on a national unity government. The summit between Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas Politbureau Chief Khaled Meshal, following several weeks of bloody internecine fighting in the Gaza Strip, will likely result in a final agreement on a unity government that Fatah and Hamas have concurred tentatively on Hamas’ Ismail Haniya remaining as prime minister at the head of a unity government, leaving all six key portfolios to Fatah, including finance. The much debated interior ministry which controls Palestinian security forces will be assigned to a neutral figure. Hamas will hold nine second-string portfolios, but also an overall majority in the Palestinian cabinet , media reported. Sunday, in a televised address from Damascus, Meshal said that it is forbidden to fail in the Mecca talks. "I call on all our brothers ... to restrain themselves and to remember our real battle is with Israel.” Meshal said.(07,12)