Inter-Palestinian dialogue starts in Mecca

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Prime Minister Ismail Haneya from the ruling Hamas movement, Hamas politburo chief Khaled Mashaal and other senior leaders from the movements of Hamas and Fatah arrived in Mecca from Saudi Red Sea city of Jeddah Wednesday morning and immediately began their first session of dialogue.

Ghazi Hamad, spokesman of Hamas-led government told reporters in Mecca that the atmosphere is "positive", adding that "every one here hopes that the two sides would overcome differences and get back home with an agreement."

Last week, Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz invited leaders of Hamas and Fatah movements for a national dialogue following two bloody weeks of armed fighting between the two movements, during which some 60 people had been killed and 300 wounded in the Palestinian territory, according to official hospital statistics.

A senior Fatah official, who spoke in condition of anonymity revealed that the sessions of dialogue would take place behind closed doors to stay away from media.

Meanwhile, Samir al-Masharawi, a senior Fatah movement leader said that the dialogue between Fatah and Hamas "should succeed and bring about fruitful results."

"It's Hamas movement's interests more than Fatah movement's interests to end tension and reach an agreement on a Palestinian national unity government," said al-Masharawi.

He declined to say how long the dialogue would last, or when it would end, but said "we hope that the parties would be able to overcome their differences and reach an agreement as soon as possible."