SYRIA: Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh meets with members of Palestinian factions in Damascus.

Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh met with representatives of Palestinian factions in Damascus on Tuesday (December 5). Hamas's Haniyeh is in Damascus on a regional tour, his first since he took office in March. He met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Monday (December 4) to discuss efforts to form a Palestinian unity government. Among the attendees in Tuesday's meeting was Mohamad Ramadan Shallah, the Secretary-General of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and Hamas' exiled leader Khaled Meshaal, as well as representatives of other factions, such as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Meshaal lives in Syria along with several high-level members of the group, which is locked in a dispute with the minority Fatah faction over forming a new government. Palestinian politicians say Syria has been gently pushing Hamas to compromise on the government issue, but Hamas leaders say the group is entitled to key positions in the government that reflect its dominance in parliament. Haniyeh said in Cairo last week that talks on a government of national unity would not run into a dead end. Haniyeh arrived in Damascus on Sunday (December 3) from Qatar, which agreed to pay salaries of 40,000 Palestinian education workers for several months, helping to ease an economic crisis caused by Western sanctions. Western countries imposed the sanctions to force the Hamas government to recognise Israel, renounce armed struggle and accept peace accords with Israel struck by the Palestinian Liberation Organisation, which does not include Hamas.

ITN Source | December 5, 2006

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