Exiled Hamas supremo Khaled Meshaal on Wednesday accused outside forces of trying to block reconciliation between his Islamist movement and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's secular Fatah party.
He made his comments during a visit to Yemen, where he is due to hold talks with President Ali Abdallah Saleh on the situation in the Palestinian territories following Hamas's bloody takeover of the Gaza Strip in June.
Meshaal wants Saleh to play a role in ending inter-Palestinian tensions "in the light of pressure exerted by certain regional and international parties who do not want any reconciliation and even seek to deepen the divide in the face of Israeli stubbornness," Yemen's official Saba news agency said.
Abbas, on a visit to Egypt, on Wednesday again rejected any dialogue with Hamas until the the militant group -- regarded as a terrorist outfit by Israel and the West -- returns the Gaza Strip to his authority.
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