Abbas, Hamas leader meet with Assad

DAMASCUS (AFP) - Palestinian and Syrian leaders met with the Damascus-based heads of Palestinian factions, including leading radical groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad, in a bid to boost Palestinian efforts to form a national unity government, officials said.

The meeting came days after Hamas rebuffed invitations to join the Palestinian government, which would oversee the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip due to be launched in mid-August.

Before the tripartite gathering, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad met with Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas, who is on his first visit to Damascus since being elected in January as successor to the late Yasser Arafat, the official news agency SANA reported.

He said Syria "is ready today to help the pursuit of a constructive dialogue which seeks to unify the ranks because Palestinian national unity is the guarantee for accomplishing legitimate goals" of the Palestinian people.

Abbas discussed with Assad "measures taken by the Palestinian Authority ... to build an independent state" and described "difficulties the Palestinian Authority has faced, particularly Israel's intransigence," SANA said.

Afterwards, the two men held a luncheon meeting with the heads of Palestinian movements based in Damascus.

Ten opposition groups have been based in the Syrian capital since the 1980s, but they closed their Damascus offices two years ago and their leaders adopted a low profile amid US charges of Syrian support for Palestinian radicals.

"All the heads of the movements in Damascus were present at the lunch," said Maher Taher, the Damascus representative of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

Hamas was at loggerheads with the Palestinian Authority earlier this week after shunning an offer to join a unity government, and vowed to resist any bid to disarm its members.

"We will not participate in this government for it is not the right mechanism," Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal said Tuesday.

Taher said the meeting "shows the depth of relations between Syria and Palestine, and the unity of the Palestinian people. We have a real opportunity to seal our Palestinian national unity."

Abbas's visit, which began on Wednesday, is expected to reinforce an improvement in ties between Damascus and the Palestinian Authority.

Relations between Damascus and Arafat varied over the decades from strained to hostile, especially after the 1993 autonomy accords between Israel and the Palestinians, which were vehemently opposed by Syria.

But Arafat and Assad met in March 2001 on the sidelines of an Arab summit in the Jordanian capital Amman.

The latest improvement in ties comes as Syria faces isolation by the United States, which accuses Damascus of failing to take steps to curb the insurgency in Iraq and blames it for instability in Lebanon.

By hosting the encounter between Abbas and all the faction leaders, Syria is trying to "bring their views closer", according to an Arab analyst.