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Abbas discusses Mideast peace in Saudi, rebuffs Hamas | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas departs Jeddah, Saudi Arabia (SPA)


Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas departs Jeddah, Saudi Arabia (SPA)

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas departs Jeddah, Saudi Arabia (SPA)

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (AFP) – Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas said Tuesday he discussed with Saudi King Abdullah a planned Middle East peace conference and the Palestinian political crisis but ruled out talks with Hamas until it returns the Gaza Strip to his authority.

Abbas, who left the Red Sea city of Jeddah for Amman late Tuesday, also told AFP that he would meet Jordan’s King Abdullah II on Wednesday.

The talks with the Saudi monarch centered on “the current Palestinian situation, chiefly in Gaza after Hamas’s coup against legitimacy,” he said, referring to the Islamist movement’s forcible takeover of the territory in mid-June.

“There will be no dialogue with Hamas until it returns the situation in Gaza to what it was before its coup,” he added.

Abbas, who arrived in Saudi Arabia earlier Tuesday, said the talks also covered “contacts under way to lay the ground for the Middle East peace conference” called by US President George W. Bush, and which he said would be held in November.

The Western-backed Abbas said he agreed with Saudi Arabia, a key US ally in the Middle East, on the need to ensure the success of the conference, which should not be just “a photo opportunity” and must be attended by all parties concerned, including Syria and Lebanon.

The Palestinian ambassador in Riyadh, Jamal al-Shobaki, told AFP on Sunday that Abbas would tell Abdullah that he still backs a Saudi-sponsored power-sharing deal with Hamas provided the militant movement cedes control of Gaza.

The Mecca agreement reached under Saudi auspices last February between Abbas’s Fatah and Hamas led to a short-lived unity government of the rival factions.

Abbas dismissed the Hamas-led government after Hamas seized Gaza and appointed a new cabinet based in the West Bank. He has since ruled out any dialogue with Hamas until it returns the strip to his authority.

A Hamas spokesman told AFP on Monday that ousted Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniya was prepared to meet with Abbas in Saudi Arabia to try to resolve the crisis on the basis of the Mecca accord.

The official Saudi account of the talks suggested Abbas had been assured of Riyadh’s support.

The Saudi and Palestinian leaders discussed “the need to remove internal differences amongst the Palestinians… and return the situation to what it was,” the state SPA news agency reported.

It said they also reviewed international efforts to activate the stalled Middle East peace process.

Oil powerhouse Saudi Arabia has welcomed Bush’s peace push, saying it contains elements compatible with a Saudi-authored Arab peace plan that offers Israel peace and normal ties if it withdraws from all land seized in the 1967 Middle East war and allows the creation of a Palestinian state and return of Palestinian refugees.

The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz receives Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia (SPA)

The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz receives Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia (SPA)

A picture released by Saudi Press Agency, SPA, shows Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas (L) meeting with Saudi King Abdullah in  the Red Sea city of Jeddah, 11 September 2007 (AFP)

A picture released by Saudi Press Agency, SPA, shows Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas (L) meeting with Saudi King Abdullah in the Red Sea city of Jeddah, 11 September 2007 (AFP)