Egypt has told several Arab states that it is refusing to receive Hamas leader Khalid Mesha'al until Hamas signs the Egyptian proposal for reconciliation with Fatah, a Kuwaiti newspaper reported on Tuesday. It said Hamas has asked Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to work in order to improve its relations with Cairo.
Egypt conveyed that it has no objection to receiving a delegation from Hamas to sign the Egyptian document "as it is and without amendments", Al Jareeda added. On Sunday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said that he would not meet Mesha'al unless Hamas signed the Egypt-brokered reconciliation offer.
This report comes amid Kuwaiti efforts to hold a reconciliation summit between Mesha'al and Abbas. "We expect to be able to hold a reconciliation meeting shortly between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the head of Hamas’ politburo Khalid Mesha'al on the basis of the paper agreed upon in Cairo," Kuwait's Foreign Minister Shaikh Mohammad Al Sabah said on Sunday. Both Abbas and Mesha'al have recently visited Kuwait and met its Amir, Shaikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah.
An Egyptian newspaper on Sunday quoting unnamed Syrian diplomats ruled out a meeting "in the near future" despite the Kuwaiti statement.
