Abbas meets Syria-based Palestinian chiefs except Hamas

0 Comments | AFP, July, 2008

DAMASCUS (AFP) — Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas has met Palestinian leaders based in Damascus, excluding the political chief of the rival Hamas movement, a member of his delegation said on Monday.

The meetings aim "to restore order in the Palestinian house. But Mr Abbas will certainly not meet (Hamas leaders)," the official told AFP, asking not to be named.

On Monday, Abbas held talks with Ramadan Abdallah Shalah, who heads the radical group Islamic Jihad, but not Hamas political supremo Khaled Meshaal, who like Shalah is also exiled in Syria.

Abbas, head of the secular Fatah faction, met separately late Sunday with Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine leader Nayef Hawatmeh and with Maher Taher of the Popular Front for the Liberation of...