DAMASCUS - Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said yesterday that efforts to form a national unity government must continue and have not reached a dead end.

"The door for dialogue must be kept open and talks between the Palestinians must continue," he told reporters in the Syrian capital.

	Advertisement

"However, if there are sides among the Palestinians who want to close the door on dialogue, then they alone would bear responsibility for the results of their position," Haniyeh said, referring to the Fatah faction headed by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Haniyeh, who arrived in Damascus on Sunday from Qatar for a four-day visit, met yesterday with President Bashar Assad and his deputy, Farouk Sharaa. At the press conference following the meeting, Haniyeh said he had briefed the Syrian leadership on the "difficult situation" in the Palestinian territories and efforts toward breaking the siege imposed on them. He said the two sides also discussed the difficulties of forming a national unity government.

Palestinian politicians say Syria has been gently pushing Hamas to compromise on the government issue, but Hamas leaders say the group is entitled to key positions in the government that reflect its dominance in parliament.

Haniyeh told about 5,000 Palestinians at the Yarmouk refugee camp, south of Damascus, that he discussed the issue of Palestinian detainees with Assad who promised to release "any Palestinian prisoner" in Syria.

Haniyeh also said that he discussed the issue of an international telephone code to help Palestinians in Syria communicate with their relatives in Palestinian territories and Syria's recognition of the Palestinian Authority's passport.

There was no response on any of these issues from the Syrian government.

However the official Syrian news agency SANA reported, "the meeting affirmed the need to support the Palestinian people fully and work on breaking the siege imposed on them."

Haniyeh is on his first tour abroad since his Hamas-led government took office in March. Hamas' exiled leader Khaled Meshal lives in Syria along with several high-level members of Hamas.

Germany urges Syria to act wisely

Germany urged Syria yesterday to use its influence with its Lebanese and Palestinian allies to help maintain Lebanon's stability and promote the Middle East peace process. "I call on Syria to avoid any actions which directly or indirectly might lead to the destabilization of Lebanon," German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said after meeting President Bashar in Damascus.

Germany has been part of a Western campaign to isolate Syria over its alleged role in last year's killing in Beirut of former prime minister Rafik Hariri. Damascus denies any involvement.

Berlin, with several other European governments, had been reconsidering its policy of no high-level contacts with Damascus, especially after the war earlier this year between Israel and the Lebanese Hezbollah movement, which Syria backs.

In his talks, Steinmeier urged Syria to persuade Hezbollah to end demonstrations that had brought hundreds of thousands of government opponents on to the streets of Beirut, German delegation officials said.

Assad said Damascus wants stability in the region, but Israel must not be allowed to hold on to occupied land.

"Syria is part of the solution, not the problem. We don't interfere in the affairs of any one," Assad was quoted by SANA as telling Steinmeier.

Steinmeier is on the last leg of a four-day Middle East tour to meet decision-makers before Germany takes over the rotating presidency of the European Union next month.

Syria urged Germany to play a decisive role in helping solve the region's conflicts when it assumes the EU and Group of Eight presidencies next year.

But during his tour, which took him to Jordan, the West Bank, Gaza, Lebanon and Israel, Steinmeier said Germany and the EU could play only a supporting role and the key to progress lay in Washington.