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Leaders of Palestinian factions in Syria hold talks on truce
 Leaders of major Damascus-based Palestinian factions held a rare public meeting to follow up on a truce with Israel reached earlier this year and on the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories. The meeting came as Prime Minister Ariel Sharon reaffirmed his demand that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas rein in militants before peacemaking can resume.In Damascus, Hamas political leader Khaled Mashaal - making his first public appearance in the Syrian capital since the government closed down offices of Palestinian groups in 2003 - said that the leaders discussed ways of boosting Palestinian national unity. During the three-hour "consultative" meeting, the leaders also followed up on the March "Cairo Declaration," in which Palestinian factions committed themselves to a period of pacification with Israel, Mashaal said. Sharon and Abbas declared an end to violence at a February 8 summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. In March, Hamas and other Palestinian groups agreed to a temporary and conditional cease-fire during a meeting in Cairo with Abbas. On Saturday, Hamas threatened to walk away from the truce because of a dispute with Fatah over municipal elections in the Gaza Strip. In a sign of concern about the situation, Egyptian officials, who helped broker the "cooling-down" period, are due in Gaza on Monday for talks with Palestinian factions to shore up the truce. Nayef Hawatmeh, leader of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, said the Damascus talks came in the context of "discussing solutions for rebuilding national Palestinian unity as agreed on in Cairo" in March. The meeting was attended by Islamic Jihad leader Ramadan Shallah and Ahmad Jibril, leader of Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, Farouk al-Kaddoumi, head of Fatah and Khaled al-Fahhoum, the former head of the National Palestinian Council, who hosted the meeting. Jibril said the meeting was meant to "rearrange" inter-Palestinian relations and said another meeting will be held in 10 days to discuss disputes among the various factions. In light of the upsurge in Israeli-Palestinian fighting in Gaza, Sharon reiterated that he would not tolerate attacks by the likes of Hamas during the pullout, saying he expected Abbas to bring militants to heel. Posted by: Fred 2005-05-23 |
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