Meeting Between Abbas, Hamas Chief Rescheduled

Mahmud Abbas (file photo) (RFE/RL) January 21, 2007 -- Palestinian official Saeb Erekat says a meeting between Palestinian Authority President Mahmud Abbas and exiled Hamas leader Khaled Mish'al, which had earlier been canceled, would take place today in Damascus.

The two men were initially supposed to meet on January 20.

Abbas has traveled to Damascus in a bid to settle differences blocking the formation of a Palestinian national unity government. A power struggle between the governing Hamas movement and Abbas' Fatah party has led to recent deadly factional violence in the Palestinian territories.

(Reuters, AFP)