Qatari FM leads Marathon meetings between Haneya and Abbas

Visiting Foreign Minister of Qatar Sheikh Hamad Ben Jassem al-Thani held on Monday night marathon meetings with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Ismail Haneya in Gaza City.

Al-Thani arrived in Gaza through Rafah border crossing between Gaza Strip and Egypt. He held a 30-minute meeting at the crossing with Abbas, then both headed to Gaza and held a two-hour meeting at Abbas' headquarters.

After the end of the meeting with Abbas, al-Thani left Abbas' headquarters and headed to meet Haneya and other ministers in the Hamas-led government, mainly Foreign Minister Mahmoud al-Zahar.

Following the meeting, Abbas told reporters that the talks were deep, adding that al-Thani would return to brief him about the results of his meeting with Haneya.

"We are still on the road and we don't say something has failed, " said Abbas, voicing hope to settle the crisis on forming a coalition government that would replace the Hamas-led one.

A few hours earlier, Palestinian Foreign Minister Zahar of Hamas told reporters that his Qatari counterpart has come with a new initiative that doesn't harm the Palestinian principals.

"Qatar and Hamas leaders outside Palestine (based in Damascus) have agreed on some points," added Zahar.

The shuttle tours of Qatari foreign minister between Damascus and Gaza Strip aimed at passing a new plan that matches both the Palestinian principals and international demands. The Hamas-led government is asked to recognize Israel, renounce violence and abide by peace deals.

The Qatari plan based on a two-state solution to settle the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and forming a Palestinian national unity government.

Hamas Prime Minister Haneya said yesterday his government rejects a similar Arab initiative for peace because it calls for recognizing Israel.

The Qatari initiative, however, didn't include recognition of the Jewish state, but called on any upcoming Palestinian government to recognize previous deals signed between Israel and the Palestinians.

Source: Xinhua