Jordan will host talks between Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas and President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah after a surge in factional violence, a Hamas official said on Monday.
Ghazi Hamad, a spokesman for the Hamas-led Palestinian government, said Haniyeh had accepted an invitation from Jordan's King Abdullah to attend talks in Amman.
Tensions between Hamas and Fatah flared after Abbas this month called for early elections, a move Hamas called a "coup."
A Jordanian official said Jordanian Prime Minister Marouf al-Bakheet assured Abbas during talks in Amman they would leave the matter of deciding on the meeting with Haniyeh "entirely in his hands," to signal their strong backing of Abbas.
"Haniyeh has welcomed the invitation. Arrangements are under way to agree on the date," Hamad said.
"This is a follow-on his majesty's initiative to exert all efforts to reinvigorate the peace process and solidify Palestinian national unity ... and explore all options, including hosting a meeting [between Abbas and Haniyeh] when the situation is right," a Jordanian government spokesman said.
Haniyeh's visit -- which a Palestinian source said could take place this week -- would be the first by a Hamas leader to Jordan since 1999, when the kingdom closed the group's officies in Amman and expelled its major leaders for alleged illegal activities.
The Palestinian Authority's representative in Amman said Abbas would visit Egypt later yesterday for talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
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