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Cairo: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Sunday that he supports Turkish mediation of Israeli-Syrian peace and would back any agreement reached between the two longtime enemies.
Abbas said a peace agreement between Israel and Syria would not harm Palestinian negotiations with the Jewish state, a topic he discussed with US President George W. Bush earlier in the week.
The Palestinian leader said he would meet with Bush again on May 17 in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm Al Shaikh.
"We stand with any dialogue or agreement that our Syrian brothers reach, and we don't believe, at all, that this would compromise the Palestinian-Israeli [peace] process," Abbas told reporters at a press conference in Sharm Al Shaikh after meeting with President Hosni Mubarak.
Full support
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with Syrian President Bashar Al Assad on Saturday to discuss Ankara's attempts to restart low-level peace talks as a prelude to bringing the leaders of Syria and Israel together.
"What Turkey is doing, or what any other country is [doing] regarding the Syrian process, we approve it," said Abbas.
The Turkish Prime Minister said on Saturday his mediation was in response to a request from Syria and Israel. The last round of direct talks between the two countries broke down in 2000 over the details of Israel's proposed withdrawal from the Golan Heights, a strategic plateau which it seized in the 1967 war.
Erdogan did not mention statements by Syrian officials and media in the past week saying that the Turkish Prime Minister recently delivered a message from Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to Syria indicating Israel was willing to give up the Golan Heights in return for a peace treaty.
Israel has refused to comment on the reports. But Olmert said earlier this month that he sent messages to Damascus on peace prospects though he would not disclose the contents.
The recent developments suggest some progress in back-channel contacts between Syria and Israel despite heightened tensions over Lebanon and an Israeli airstrike on a suspected nuclear reactor in Syria in September.
Abbas briefed Mubarak yesterday on the results of his recent discussions with Bush, which he said "did not yield a breakthrough" on Middle East peace. Bush has been pushing for an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement by the end of the year, but progress has been limited.
Hamas issues restriction
One of the complicating factors has been the split between the Palestinian factions, with Abbas' Fatah group controlling the West Bank and Hamas controlling the Gaza Strip. Hamas has issued tough new restrictions on public gatherings in the Gaza Strip.
Gaza's police force said anyone who wants to hold an indoor cultural event or celebration will now need a special permit. It says the move is necessary to "uphold law and order".
Yesterday's announcement was the latest move by Hamas to consolidate power in Gaza since the group violently seized control there last June. It already has banned unauthorised public protests.
Hamas appears to be concerned by recent attempts by the rival Fatah movement and other political groups to hold unauthorised cultural events.
The independent Palestinian Centre for Human Rights says the Hamas decision is illegal.
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