Hamas holds talks with Swiss envoy

Hamas holds talks with Swiss envoy

CAIRO / MOSCOW

Khaled Meshaal.

Hamas political chief Khaled Meshaal met the Swiss Middle East envoy in Cairo late Jan. 18 as part of efforts to normalize relations with European governments, sources said as Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas arrived in Moscow for talks with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, as part of a week-long European tour that has also taken him to London and Berlin. Meshaal and Jean-Daniel Ruch discussed the possibility of relations between Europe and the Islamist group which rules Gaza. The talks “addressed the political situation in light of the Arab Spring and the Palestinian political situation,” Agence France-Presse quoted him as saying yesterday, adding that the meeting was attended by several other top Hamas leaders.