Envoys of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas have been holding secret meetings with the top leader of the terrorist Hamas group exiled in Syria to end deadly Palestinian infighting and prepare new coalition talks, senior officials said.
Abbas will come to Damascus early next week to meet exiled Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal and Syrian officials, said Moussa Abu Marzouk, the deputy head of Hamas' political bureau in Syria.
"I hope his (Abbas') meetings in Damascus will be constructive and lead to solving all outstanding problems that have broken the dialogue in the past," said Abu Marzouk in an interview with The Associated Press.
Officials from both Palestinian sides said significant progress has been made in the secret talks over the past two weeks between Mashaal and two Abbas envoys, independent legislator Ziad Abu Amr and Mohammed Rashid -- a former adviser to Abbas' predecessor, the late Yasser Arafat.
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