Fatah/Hamas

Hamas politburo chief Khaled Meshal said on Sunday that his Islamist group was in the final stages of achieving reconciliation with the rival Palestinian Fatah party. A senior Fatah member, however, quickly dismissed Meshal's statements.

"If Meshal means what he says, he should go to Egypt and announce his party's commitment to Palestinian reconciliation," Azzam al-Ahmed was quoted as saying in the West Bank town of Ramallah by the Palestinian Wafa news agency.

"We urge Hamas to sign it so that we begin implementing the agreement," he added.
Hamas seized the Gaza Strip after a bloody coup in 2007, knocking government control out of the hands of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah faction. Reconciliation efforts have been ongoing with little result.


At a meeting with officials in Saudi Arabia, Meshal said Hamas wants Riyadh to play a special role alongside Egypt and other Arab countries to unify the Palestinian position and also to prompt Arabs to confront the Israeli government.

"We achieved great strides towards achieving reconciliation," Meshal told reporters at the foreign ministry during a visit to the Saudi capital. "We are in the final stages now."



This was the first known meeting between Saudi and Hamas officials since Saudi Arabia brokered the Mecca Agreement in 2007 between Hamas and Fatah.

An Egyptian proposal to promote reconciliation between Hamas and PalestinianPresident Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah group has called for presidential and legislative elections to be held in the West Bank and Gaza Strip next June.  (22,22)