Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal met in Doha on Thursday to discuss ways of resuming the indirect talks with Israel over a permanent cease-fire in the Gaza Strip.
The meeting was held in the presence elf the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani.
Palestinian sources said Abbas and the emir invited Mashaal to join a meeting which they wee holding to discuss ways of ending the fighting between Israel and Hamas.
Abbas arrived in Doha on Wednesday at the head of a delegation consisting of chief PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat, Palestinian delegation head to the cease-fire talks Azzam al-Ahmed and commander of the PA's General Intelligence Service in the West Bank, Majed Faraj.
The sources said that the purpose of Abbas's visit to Qatar was to persuade Mashaal and the Hamas leadership to agree to the resumption of the Cairo cease-fire talks, which collapsed earlier this week when rockets were fired at Israel while the discussions were continuing.
Abbas's visit to Qatar coincided with the killing of three top Hamas commanders in an IAF strike on their house in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip and subsequent threats from Hamas to avenge their death and escalate the rocket attacks on Israel.