CAIRO: A senior Egyptian official is in Damascus to meet Syrian and Hamas officials ahead of renewed Palestinian unity talks next week, a Palestinian official said on Friday.
Intelligence chief Omar Suleiman’s deputy Omar Kinawi will push for Palestinian reconciliation during the meetings, said Nabil Shaath, a senior official with Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party.
Suleiman mediated talks between Fatah and its rival Hamas in Cairo which broke off last week after a failure to agree on the composition and program of a unity government but are due to resume next Wednesday.
“I don’t know how long the talks will take but they will certainly succeed, Shaath told AFP.
He said informal discussions between Egyptian officials and Palestinian factions would be held on Tuesday in Cairo before the rival groups resume their talks on Wednesday.
Syria is an influential supporter of Hamas and hosts its exiled political leadership.
A long-running feud between Fatah and Hamas boiled over into all-out conflict in June 2007, when the Islamists seized control of the Gaza Strip after routing Abbas loyalists in days of deadly street battles.
Fatah controls Abbas’ Western-backed Palestinian Authority, but Hamas is boycotted by the West and Israel as a terrorist group. -AFP
