Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday dispatched two envoys to Syria for talks with Hamas leader Kahled Mashaal on ways of finding a solution to the case of kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, senior PA officials here said. Relations between the two have been strained ever since the Hamas leader accused Abbas of conspiring with the US and Israel to bring down the Hamas government. Israel holds Mashaal directly responsible for the abduction of Shalit. A PA official told The Jerusalem Post that Abbas and the PLO executive committee, a key decision-making body, decided over the weekend to negotiate with Mashaal after reaching the conclusion that Hamas leaders in the Gaza Strip had little influence, if any, over the kidnappers. "It's clear that Mashaal and his men in Syria and Lebanon are calling the shots," he said. "They have a great impact on the armed wing of Hamas, Izaddin al-Kassam, whose members are holding the soldier somewhere in the southern Gaza Strip."
The two emissaries, who are expected to begin their mission in Damascus on Monday, are Taysir Khaled, member of the PLO executive committee and a leader of the Leninist Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and Abdullah Hourani, a widely-respected former PLO official.