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Hamas, Fatah officials to meet over conciliation in Damascus Sept. 23

GAZA, Sept 22 (KUNA) -- Officials from Hamas and Fatah will meet in Damascus, Syria, tomorrow to discuss progress achieved in the Palestinian conciliation, a Hamas official said Wednesday.
Mahmoud Al-Zahhar told KUNA here the meeting between Hamas leaders and Fatah's Azzam Al-Ahmad was the result of a meeting between Hamas politburo chief Khaled Mishal and Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Sulaiman in Saudi Arabia early this month.
"The meeting will discuss outstanding issues ...," he said.
London-based Al-Hayat newspaper reported last Sunday that Sulaiman met with Mishal in Saudi Arabia in a bid to push forward the conciliation efforts.
The paper quoted an Egyptian source as saying the conciliation was on top of issues discussed between Sulaiman and Mishal. Sulaiman, he said, told Mishal that it was necessary that Hamas sign the Egypt-worded conciliation document with Fatah.
Al-Zahhar said Al-Ahmad's visit to Damascus would move the waters for the sake of conciliation.
Hamas refused to sign the egypt-proposed conciliation document, which was presented last October. Hamas asked for an agreement over a paper of understandings to be attached to the Egyptian document. Egypt and Fatah refused the request. (end) mzt.bs KUNA 222336 Sep 10NNNN