Tuesday May 27, 2008

In a meeting that could re-start stalled national unity talks between the two main Palestinian political parties, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (with the Fateh party) met with leaders from the rival Hamas party on Monday.

According to the Palestinian news agency Ma'an, the Hamas delegation consisted of former Deputy Prime Minister Nasser Addin Ash-Sha'ir, Sheikh Hamid Al-Beitawi and Samir Abu 'Eisha. The official Palestinian news agency, Wafa, confirmed a meeting between Abbas and Sheikh Hamid Al-Beitawi. Al-Beitawi is a Palestinian lawmaker who was, until recently, imprisoned by Israeli forces in an Israeli detention camp.

The meeting between the two major parties is the first since the democratically-elected Hamas government took power in the Gaza Strip last June, sparking Fateh retaliation and ongoing factional fighting.

The Hamas delegation delivered a letter from Palestinian political prisoners inside Israeli detention camps calling for national unity between the Palestinian factions.

This meeting comes at the same time that Lebanese factions (north of Israel-Palestine) have come to an agreement to end infighting, following the Presidential election last week.