Hamas had ‘big role’ in Syria mission: Arab League

Arab League Secretary General Nabil al-Arabi (R) and Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal hold a joint news confrence following their meeting in Cairo on January 6, 2012. - Photo by AFP

CAIRO: The Damascus-based chief of Hamas was instrumental in getting Syria to accept an Arab observer mission into the country, the head of the Arab League said on Friday.
Nabil al-Arabi was speaking in Cairo after talks with Khaled Meshaal, the exiled head of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.
Meshaal “played a big role in advising the Syrians to sign the document,” Arabi told reporters.
“I had sent a letter with him to the Syrian authorities to say that it was essential to work in honesty, transparency and credibility to stop the violence in Syria,” Arabi said.
But a top Palestinian official slammed Meshaal’s action, saying it contradicts Palestinian policy of non-interference in the domestic affairs of any country.
“Khaled Meshaal has no right to launch any mediation bid for the sake of Syria or any other country,” Yasser Abed Rabbo, the secretary general of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, told AFP in Ramallah.
“Palestinian policy has always been of no interference and still is,” he said, adding that such action “harms the interests of the Palestinian people.”
Meshaal “is interfering in Syria’s internal affairs. It is no business of his,” Abed Rabbo said.
A team of Arab League monitors has been in Syria since December 26, trying to assess whether President Bashar al-Assad’s regime is complying with a peace accord aimed at ending its deadly crackdown on dissent.
But critics say it has been completely out manoeuvred by the government and failed to make any progress towards stemming nearly 10 months of bloodshed.
Activists have called for the observer mission to admit its failure and hand over to the United Nations.
The UN estimates that more than 5,000 people have been killed since the crisis erupted in March.
Meshaal arrived in Cairo late on Thursday for a one-day visit in which he also held talks with Egyptian officials about Palestinian reconciliation efforts.