King Abdullah avoids meeting with Fatah's Abbas

Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah has skipped a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, in an apparent diplomatic snub, Al Jazeera reported on Friday.President Abbas was reportedly kept waiting at a palace room for a telephone call for the meeting that never came. Al Jazeera's David Chater, reporting from Jordan, said: ‘It was a deliberate and undiplomatic snub.’Mr Abbas, who dissolved the unity government in Palestine, set up under a Saudi brokered peace deal, is under increasing pressure from Arab governments to restart talking to Hamas and negotiate a compromise.An Arab diplomat told Dawn that despite standing by the Abbas government in public, he was in very clear terms by President Hosni Maubarak during Sharm-El-Sheikh summit earlier the week that he needs to mend fences with Hamas.‘We have told him so in very clear terms,’ the diplomat added. ‘There is no ambiguity about it.’The need to reorganise the Fatah movement and weed out corruption within its ranks also could not be over emphasised, the Riyadh-based diplomat said.The move comes days after Mr Abbas dissolved the unity government set up under the Saudi deal and accused Hamas of attempting to assassinate him. President Abbas had publicly vowed earlier not to talk to the ‘assassins’. President Abbas also wanted to show King Abdullah proof of Hamas plot to assassinate him while in Gaza.Arab governments initially appeared trying to isolate Hamas. But now President Abbas is coming under increasing pressure also from Arab heavyweights, at a time, when Israel and the Quartet seem to be holding out carrots to him for staying away from Hamas.An official close to Mr Abbas was quoted here as saying that the Thursday meeting with King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia was postponed “due to lack of time as both leaders had busy schedules”.The official said Mr Abbas would meet King Abdullah in Saudi Arabia “in coming weeks” but gave no details.