PALESTINE: Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas held crisis talks with Hamas in Saudi Arabia yesterday in an effort to forge a unity government and end internecine violence that has killed scores since December.
"We want to create a unity government and that is everyone's demand. We want a government that can end the blockade," Mr Abbas said at the meeting overlooking the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Islam's holiest site.
"Recent days have been very black and may God not allow them to return. It has been a catastrophe that must not be repeated. We don't want blood spilt."
More than 90 people have been killed since December in violence between Mr Abbas's Fatah movement and Islamist group Hamas, which beat Fatah in a parliamentary election last year.
A deal on a unity government could help end an international blockade of Hamas, though western countries have halted funding until the group recognises Israel and agrees to previous agreements with it signed by the Palestinian Authority.
Nabil Amr, an adviser to Mr Abbas, said a major stumbling block had been removed with an agreement to name independents to the key posts of finance, foreign affairs and interior in a unity government, the first subject on the agenda.
Adding urgency to the talks, Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert said on Tuesday he would meet Mr Abbas and US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice on February 19th in a "significant" bid to restart long-stalled peace talks.
British foreign secretary Margaret Beckett, who met Mr Olmert and senior Palestinian officials yesterday, said Israel and the Palestinians could be edging towards a turning point in the effort to revive peace talks. But with Israel and the US opposing a unity government unless Hamas meets western demands to recognise Israel and renounce violence, that meeting could be in jeopardy.
Israel has already released $100 million in Palestinian tax revenues to Mr Abbas but may scale back any future good will gestures if western demands are not met, a senior Israeli official said.
Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal said he had come to the table determined to reach a deal that would end Palestinian divisions, though he made no specific mention of the unity government.
"We will not leave this place without agreement, God willing," he said. "If it finds us unified, the international community will have to respect our wishes and lift the unjust blockade."
Saudi media have said there will be no Saudi interference in the talks, but the key US ally and traditional funder of the Palestinian Authority has tried to pressurise Hamas over the past year, western diplomats in Riyadh say.
King Abdullah, who called the talks, urged the Palestinian leaders on Tuesday to avoid a civil war that would put decades of gains in the struggle with Israel at risk, Saudi media said.
Fatah officials will also argue that a unity government must adhere to a 2002 Saudi-sponsored Arab peace initiative that offers Israel comprehensive peace in return for a Palestinian state.
Any agreement in Mecca, which officials said could take up to three days to hammer out, could fritter away when both factions return. It could also face US and Israeli rejection. - ( Reuters)