Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas speaks during a live speech on the 45th anniversary of his Fatah party's establishment in the West Bank city of Ramallah, on Dec. 31, 2009. (Xinhua File Photo)
2010-01-09 18:47:03RAMALLAH, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas plans to visit Syria but will not meet his exiled Hamas rival, an official from Abbas' Fatah party said Saturday.
Abbas will not meet Hamas' politburo chief Khaled Mashaal in his planned visit to Damascus, said Jamal Muhissen, a member of Fatah's Central Committee.
"If Hamas had signed the reconciliation deal, there would have been meetings between the two sides," Muhissen added, referring to an Egyptian proposal to reconcile Hamas and Fatah.
The Islamic Hamas movement, which took over Gaza by force in 2007, raised reservations on the Egyptian offer to restore political unity to Gaza and the Fatah-ruled West Bank.
Earlier, Palestinian sources said that Abbas will sit with Mashaal in a meeting sponsored by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
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RAMALLAH, Jan. 3 (Xinhua) -- A senior official of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party on Sunday ruled out the possibility of striking a reconciliation agreement immediately with rival Islamic Hamas movement.
Meanwhile, a senior Hamas leader said that his movement ruling the Gaza Strip doesn't oppose the signing of the reconciliation pact drafted by Egypt. Full story
Abbas: reconciliation agreement with Hamas only to be signed in Egypt
RAMALLAH, Dec. 31 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday declared that he has rejected an offer from rival Hamas to sign national reconciliation deal in other place than Egypt.
"Hamas has officially offered to sign the Egyptian document under the condition that the signing doesn't take pace in Egypt," Abbas said in a live speech on the 45th anniversary of his Fatah party's establishment. Full story
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