Mashaal: US 'vetoed' Palestinian unity

Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal on Monday accused the US of obstructing efforts to end the rift between his movement and Fatah. Mashaal's allegation came as he arrived in Moscow at the head of a Hamas delegation for talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. This was Mashaal's third visit to Moscow since Hamas won the January 2006 parliamentary election. Mashaal's talks in Moscow focused on the continued power struggle between Hamas and Fatah and ways of achieving reconciliation between the two parties, sources close to Hamas said. The sources said that Mashaal complained to the Russian foreign minister that a US "veto" was stopping Hamas and Fatah from signing a reconciliation accord. Mashaal said that another reason for the delay in reaching agreement between the two parties was "amendments" introduced to the latest Egyptian "reconciliation" initiative. Hamas welcomed Mashaal's visit to Russia as a major step toward launching dialogue between the movement and the international community. Mustapha Sawwaf, a political analyst and Hamas supporter, said that the visit was aimed at "creating a kind of balance in the international community's policy toward the Middle East."