Syria president stresses necessity of Palestinian national unity

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad stressed on Sunday the necessity to strengthen the Palestinian national unity, the official SANA news agency reported.

Assad made the remarks in a meeting with visiting Fatah leader Farouk al-Qaddoumi, who runs the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)'s political department.

He expressed Syria's support in Palestinians' efforts in forming a coalition government, saying that Syria supports everything agreed upon by the Palestinians on such a government.

The president also encouraged the continuation of the inner- Palestinian dialogue in order to fulfill their aspirations for ending the occupation, restoring rights and establishing an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital.

Qaddoumi, for his part, reviewed during his meeting with Assad the outcome of the current contacts and consultations on forming the national unity government.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has agreed earlier with Prime Minister Ismail Haneya, who is also a senior Hamas official, to form a coalition government with national unity in a bid to lift an international boycott on the current government led by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas).

However, the almost four-month-long talks over forming such a coalition government have recently stalled as Hamas has repeatedly refused the international demands of recognizing Israel.

Source: Xinhua