Mahmoud Abbas to visit Damascus

The Palestinian President is preparing for a rare visit to Syria this Thursday.

He’s meeting Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad to discuss the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and attempts to create a unity government between Fatah and Hamas.

Hamas Political Bureau head Khaled Mishaal lives in Damascus, but it’s very unlikely Abbas will meet him – casting doubt on how much Abbas really cares about a Fatah-Hamas unity government.

The trip comes days after King Abdullah of Jordan visits Damascus to talk about hopes for a Palestinian-Israeli peace deal.

(Photo: Abbas meets Bashar in a visit last year.)

Tags:

0 responses so far ↓

There are no comments yet...Kick things off by filling out the form below.

Dictators we like: "Bahrain is not Syria. There is a process of reform under way and this govt backs those reforms." http://t.co/qwnnrbHl

Syria Comment

Syrian Rebels Become More Lethal

As Syria’s rebel militias become more lethal, foreign analysts are trying to determine how Islamic they are, how to unify them, and what role the West can play in guiding Syria toward an outcome favorable to its interests. The Syrian government is exploiting Western concerns that the Syrian militias could turn out to be harmful […]

“The Hamas-Syrian Split, a Dilemma for Iran’s Palestinian Strategy,” By Mohammad Ataie

The Hamas-Syrian Split, a Dilemma for Iran’s Palestinian Strategy By Mohammad Ataie for Syria Comment May 13, 2012 Since the advent of the Iranian revolution, the Palestinian issue has been at the heart of the Islamic Republic’s foreign policy. For ideological and strategic reasons, supporting the Palestinian cause and resistance against Israel has been an [ […]

Main Pillars of the Syrian Regime Collapsing

The main pillars of the Syrian regime are collapsing one after the other. The closing of the University of Aleppo signifies the beginning of the end for public education. It will only be the first of the universities to close. Most are trying to limp to the end of the academic year, but they will […]

Qunfuz

Taliban Poetry

A shaved version of this review appeared in the Guardian. In the 1980s an artist friend of mine made a poster for Gulbuddin Hekmatyar’s Hizb-e-Islami, a militia later allied with the Taliban. The poster depicted a fully-bearded Afghan mujahid clutching Quran and Kalashnikov and standing atop a slaughtered Russian bear. It was sent as a […]

Ramadan’s Arab Awakening

A mangled version of this review appeared in the Independent. What is happening in the Middle East? Tariq Ramadan, one of the foremost Muslim intellectuals, calls the contemporary events ‘uprisings’, more concrete and permanent in their effect than ‘revolts’ but still short of thoroughgoing ‘revolutions’. So far, Tunisia is the only clear democratising succe […]

Not Writing About Syria

I haven’t been writing about Syria at my previous pace. The time is not right. This is a time for Syrian internet activists, those still surviving, to send us their videos. It’s a time for gathering evidence – although no more evidence is needed. It’s a time for reporters to write, for committed foreign journalists […]

Qifa Nabki

March in Support of Proportional Representation

I got an email about a planned march in support of proportional representation (PR), which will take place in Beirut on May 13. In a way, conditions are ripe these days for Lebanese civil society groups to push their agenda for electoral reform because: (a) the issue is front and center again, and (b) because […]

This Is Just To Say

I have finished the dissertation that I’ve been writing and which has lately kept me from blogging more often Forgive me It was onerous So long And so dense […]

Satire & the Syrian Revolution

As it so happens, there are other things one can do with a camera phone during a revolution besides filming gun battles. I recently arrived late to a very good party, the party of Jiim Siin’s brilliant and wickedly satirical monologues about the Syrian uprising. Recorded on an iPhone by an anonymous Syrian fellow living […]

	Amer on Rania vs Asma
	Bill Painter on The SNC – standing with the Syrian people. Sometimes.
	Tubis regurgatate \| Travelfarestra on On bloggers and the opposition
	armand on A year in revolt
	Aggy och Marcy chattar om: Carine Roitfeld och andra grejer \| Rodeo Magazine on Vogue does Asma Al-Assad

Syria News Wire