Envoys of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas have been holding secret meetings with the top leader of the militant Hamas group exiled in Syria to end deadly Palestinian infighting and prepare new coalition talks, senior PA officials said Saturday.

Abbas will come to Damascus early next week to meet exiled Hamas chief Khaled Meshal and Syrian officials, said Moussa Abu Marzouk, the deputy head of Hamas' political bureau in Syria.

"I hope his (Abbas') meetings in Damascus will be constructive and lead to solving all outstanding problems that have broken the dialogue in the past," Abu Marzouk said.

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An Abbas aide confirmed that Abbas planned to meet with Meshal on Monday.

Officials from both Palestinian sides said significant progress has been made in the secret talks over the past two weeks between Meshal and two Abbas envoys, independent legislator Ziad Abu Amr and Mohammed Rashid - a former advisor to Abbas' predecessor Yasser Arafat.

The envoys were heading to Damascus for another round of talks Saturday following a stop in Qatar, which has been mediating between Palestinian
factions, officials said on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to talk to the media.

Abu Marzouk said mediations were geared at resuming negotiations between the Hamas-led government and Abbas' more moderate Fatah party to form a national unity cabinet. He predicted that dialogue would resume in the next few days.

The bitter Hamas and Fatah rivals have repeatedly failed in recent months to form a coalition because of disagreements over a political program and control over key Cabinet posts. Hamas has also balked at international demands that any Palestinian government recognize Israel, renounce violence and accept existing peace deals.

Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas on Saturday urged an end to internal violence and called for fresh efforts to form a unity government. He later reiterated this sentiment to Abbas during a phone conversation the two held Saturday evening.

At least 30 Palestinians have been killed in factional fighting since Abbas of the rival Fatah movement called last month for early parliamentary elections to try to break a political deadlock with Hamas.

"I call on the Palestinian people and factions, in particular Hamas and Fatah, to halt internal clashes," Haniyeh said in a speech broadcast live on television.

"We must protect national unity and work to form a national unity government," said Haniyeh, speaking after days of large rallies by both factions that have sharply raised tensions.

Haniyeh said a Palestinian civil war must be prevented.

"Clashes must stop completely and forever. Gunfire must never be directed against Palestinians. The rifle must only be raised against the occupation," Haniyeh said.

"Enough, I say enough," he said in the speech. "All forms of internal
fighting must stop." Haniyeh also said national unity is a religious duty.

Also on Friday, thousands of Hamas supporters poured into the streets of the Gaza Strip after prayers to denounce one of Fatah's most powerful leaders, ratcheting up tensions between the rival Palestinian factions.

Both the ruling Hamas movement and once-dominant Fatah have mounted large rallies in Gaza and the West Bank in recent days, trying to whip up public support and project strength amid the mounting internal violence.

Hamas supporters emerged from mosques on Friday waving green Hamas flags and chanted slogans accusing Mohammad Dahlan, a Fatah strongman and possible successor to Abbas, of being the mastermind of a "coup" against its nine-month-old government.

"Dahlan is a traitor," they chanted.

Hamas accused Dahlan in December of masterminding a plot to kill Haniyeh, a charge Dahlan denied.

Tawfiq Abu Khoussa, a Fatah spokesman, accused Hamas of trying to spark more fighting. "We urge Hamas to return to its senses before it is too late," he said.