[Dr. Aaron Lerner - IMRA: If there was a question where the milllions of
dollars of new weapons being supplied to "moderates" would end up being
directed towards..]

National unity talks reach agreement to fulfil five goals, including
formation of a united resistance
Date: 24 / 01 / 2007 Time: 09:56
www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=18900

Bethlehem - Ma'an - The national unity dialogue between rival delegates from
Fatah and Hamas, which kicked off on Tuesday in Gaza, has already yielded
results, according to sources in the Democratic Front for the Liberation of
Palestine (DFLP).

Salih Nasser from the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine
(DFLP) informed that Tuesday's meeting led to an agreement on five issues.
These are the formation of a national unity government, the activation of
the role of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), the formation of a
national security council, the formation of a united resistance front, and
the democratization of the unions in general.

Palestinian sources also said that participants agreed on the agenda for the
dialogue sessions.

Nasser added that the participants had agreed to form a committee who "will
prepare the platform [of the national unity government] within the coming 48
hours". He also said that this national dialogue committee will convene at
6pm on Wednesday.

According to the newspaper 'Al-Sharq Al-Awsat' (meaning 'The Middle East' in
Arabic), the meeting between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas'
politburo chief Khalid Mash'al on Sunday in Damascus was key in enabling an
agreement on a national unity government to be announced.

However, the newspaper, which is an Arabic-language daily based in London,
said that Abbas did not want to give the Syrians the honour of achieving
such an agreement. The newspaper quotes Abbas as saying that he did not want
to "give the Syrians the [honour of] completion of this agreement on their
land; I prefer the agreement to be announced in Gaza."

The paper also claims that a draft paper was presented at the Damascus
meeting which hopes to bridge the gap between the two sides. This paper is
reported to include a commitment of the new government to the previous
agreements signed with the Israelis.