Meshaal hails Saudi reconciliation talks

Hamas leader Khalid Meshaal said on Sunday that Hamas was in the final stages of achieving reconciliation with the rival Palestinian Fatah party after he met Saudi Arabian officials to try to narrow the rift.

“We achieved great strides towards achieving reconciliation,” Meshaal told reporters at the foreign ministry during a visit to the Saudi capital. “We are in the final stages now.”

An Egyptian proposal to promote reconciliation between Hamas and Abbas’s Fatah group has called for presidential and legislative elections to be held in the West Bank and Gaza Strip next June.

Meshaal said Hamas still had some points to resolve in the Egyptian proposal.

“We all agree that the signing of the (reconciliation) will take place in Cairo,” he said.

Meshaal’s visit with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal was designed to help reconciliation of the feud, Saudi officials said.

“We still hope that the kingdom plays a special role alongside Egypt and Arab countries to help us first succeed in sponsoring the Palestinian reconciliation and unify the Palestinian position and also to prompt Arabs to confront the stubborn Israeli administration,” Meshaal said.