ARAB AFFAIRS - Feb 6 - Saudis Press Palestinian Peace Effort.

Palestinian leaders arrive in Islam's holiest city for a summit meeting sponsored by Saudi Arabia aimed at coaxing the leaders of the two main Palestinian parties, Hamas and Fatah, to agree on a unity government that could end a wave of violence in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank and resume relations with donor countries. The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, arrived in the Saudi Red Sea port city of Jidda early Feb 6 and met with King Abdullah. The Palestinian PM, Ismail Haniyeh, who belongs to Hamas, and Khaled Mashaal, the Damascus-based Hamas leader, landed there later in the day and also met with the king, Saudi officials said. The leaders were expected to perform the pilgrimage at the Grand Mosque in Mecca and meet with Saudi officials and other mediators before deliberations begin in earnest Feb 6. Abdullah, in a statement published on the Saudi Press Agency, said he hoped that the meetings would "achieve the aspirations of the Palestinian people". The meeting, the latest of several Saudi-sponsored initiatives aimed at stabilising emerging conflicts in the Middle East, is intended to yield a compromise on a new government that would include members of Hamas and Fatah and would be acceptable to major donors states to the Palestinians to resume relations and aid to the government and, ostensibly, restart the stalled peace efforts with the Israelis. Analysts remained skeptical that the Mecca summit meeting, which is expected to last at least two days, would yield major breakthroughs. Previous efforts to stem the bloodshed and find common ground have yielded only temporary cease-fires as well as a threat by Abbas to call new parliamentary elections. Still, many hoped the meeting, and the weight and personal prestige invested in it by Abdullah, would prod the Palestinians to leave here with some agreement in hand. "Hopefully, in the holy environment in the house of God this will come clearly as a message to them and they will take their obligations as seriously as they can", FM Saud al- Faisal, said in an interview. Hamas and Fatah have wrangled over a unity government since last summer, when it became clear that Hamas could not govern alone because of a lack of funding and support from donor countries. The main sticking points between the two side are centered on how to divide the ministerial portfolios and how the new government would meet the criteria laid out by the so-called Quartet, which comprises the US, Russia, the UN and the EU. The conditions include renouncing violence, recognising Israel and accepting previous Israeli- Palestinian agreements. Hamas has refused to explicitly recognize Israel and has not committed to accepting previous accords signed by Fattah with Israel. US and Israeli officials said that the Quartet would not compromise on those demands. If there is a deal in Mecca, the Saudi foreign minister said, "you move to the peace process - then you will be able to, with assurance, have the talks between the two sides". But he warned that differences of opinion among them "will never get us anywhere". The Saudi effort to help forge a peace between the Palestinian factions reflects a general agreement among leaders in the Arab world that the first step to dousing the fires burning in the region is resolving the Palestinian conflict. The Saudis have grown increasingly alarmed at the chaos engulfing the region and have stepped forward to try to use their religious credibility, and vast oil wealth, to try to preserve the status quo and serve as a counterpoint to Iran's growing influence. The foreign minister said Saudis had always been involved in regional diplomacy but more recently had moved with more "urgency". Saudi Arabia has grown concerned over the rise in sectarian tensions between Sunnis and Shi'ites, which he said has been driven by the bloodshed in Iraq. Saudi Arabia is fearful of a civil war in Lebanon, and he suggested that the kingdom was looking to limit Iran's involvement in Arab affairs. The Saudis, the minister said, view the Palestinian-Israel conflict as the key to stability, a position shared by Egypt, Jordan and the other Gulf states.