Saudi Arabian King Abdullah Bin Abdel-Aziz on Tuesday separately welcomed in Jeddah the Fatah delegation led by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and their Hamas counterparts, ahead of their talks scheduled today.

King Abdullah first received Abbas and his Fatah movement delegation that arrived earlier in Saudi Arabia, two hours before meeting with the Hamas envoys.

In addition to President Abbas, the Fatah delegation includes senior leaders Rawhi Fattouh, Brig. Gen. Nasser Yousef, legislature chief Mohamed Dahlan, the head of the Fatah parliamentary bloc Azzam el-Ahmad and Nabil Amro, Abbas' media advisor.

The Hamas delegation is led by Khaled Mashaal, Hamas politburo chief, Ismail Haneya, Prime Minister of the Hamas-led government, Foreign Minister Mahmoud Al-Zahar, the government spokesman Ghazi Hamad and other officials.

Ghazi Hamad, the government spokesman released a statement confirming King Abdullah met with Hamas in the Red Sea city of Jeddah.

Hamad said that dialogue would begin in the holy city of Mecca on Wednesday, adding that Tuesday's meetings were ceremonial in nature, indicating a declaration of the start of the dialogue.

He said that King Abdullah reiterated to Hamas the necessity for all parties to end their differences and reach an agreement on all pending issues.

"King Abdullah told our delegation that the inter-Palestinian fighting would severely harm the Palestinian cause," said Hamad, adding "The King promised that his country would offer the help needed to reach an agreement."

The Saudi King also said that the gaze of the Arab and Islamic worlds is fixed on Fatah and Hamas, "and are waiting to hear good news that the two sides could reach an agreement."

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Haneya reiterated that his government "is determined to exert every possible effort and do all its best to remove all obstacles and reach an agreement."

"We are looking forward to reach an agreement that gets the current Palestinian status out of the crisis and reinforce the internal Palestinian front," said Haneya.

Meanwhile, Mashaal, the Hamas leader, had said that "Hamas does have a real intention and determination to reach an agreement," adding that "Hamas would cooperate with all parties to form a national unity government that will addresses the Palestinian problems and treat all outstanding issues."

(Xinhua News Agency February 7, 2007)