The Empty Quarter

Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh (R) talks with Head of Hamas movement Khaled Meshaal (C) and his deputy Mousa Abu Marzouq in Sanaa July 13, 2008. Meshaal is on a three-day visit to Yemen for talks on inter-Palestinian reconciliation. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah

Mishaal to attend rally in Sana’a

22/01/2009

Sahwa Net - The head of Hamas political bureau Khalid Mishaal is to attend a rally to be held in Sana’a .

The Organizers of the rally said that it aims at marking the victory of Palestinian resistance against Israel .

Hamas had proclaimed victory in rallies attended by thousands of supporters Tuesday, saying it survived Israel’s military onslaught despite the destruction and massive death toll suffered by Gazans.

Yemen: Govt unveils new Palestinian peace initiative

YemenOnline- The Yemeni government has unveiled a new plan to bring peace between warring Palestinian groups Hamas and Fatah, Arabic satellite TV channel Al-Jazeera reports. The plan centres on the formation of a Palestinian government of national unity that would take office for six months. This would organise parliamentary and presidential elections in the Palestinian territories.

The plan builds on a previous Yemeni initiative last March that proposed holding early Palestinian elections and returning control of the Gaza Strip to the Palestinian Authority, whose key leaders are from the more moderate Fatah faction.

Another key element of the Yemeni plan is rebuilding the Palestinian security apparatus to ensure this remains beyond political control.

As well as Yemen, Egypt, Syria and Turkey are reportedly behind the plan, which was spawned at the Arab League summit in Kuwait City earlier this week.

In the next few days, a delegation from the Islamist Palestinian faction Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, is expected to discuss the initiative with government officials in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa.

The news came as United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon on Thursday urged a “massive” international effort to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict after a three-week Israeli military offensive in Gaza, which killed 1,300 Palestinians and injured over 5,000, many of them civilians.

Israel unilaterally declared a ceasefire last weekend, claiming it had achieved its military objective of stopping Hamas rocket attacks against the Jewish State.