Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met with Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy in Madrid, Reuters reported on Monday.
The two leaders are expected to discuss current international issues and the Palestinian National Reconciliation Agreement, which was signed in October in Cairo.
Talks will also include development programs financed by Spain.
Meanwhile, a member of Hamas political bureau sparked controversy after announcing that the meeting of the Palestinian factions in Cairo would discuss the rejection to classify the Lebanese Hezbollah group as a terrorist organization.
“The first point on the agenda of the Palestinian dialogue conference is that Hezbollah is not a terrorist organization,” Moussa Abu Marzouk, deputy head of Hamas’ political bureau, said through his Twitter account.
Abu Marzouk was referring to the classification of Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, during the Arab foreign ministers meeting held on Sunday.
A statement issued at the end of the meeting accused the party, which is a partner in the Lebanese government, of providing terrorist groups in Arab countries with sophisticated weapons and ballistic missiles. It also condemned the establishment of terrorist groups in Bahrain, which are trained by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and Hezbollah.
Fatah Movement did not respond to Abu Marzouk’s remarks, but a source in the movement told Asharq al-Awsat that the issue was not on the discussion table. “Dialogue would assess the previous stage of reconciliation and discuss the possibility of forming a national unity government and holding elections,” the sources said.
The Islamic Jihad movement, which is close to Iran, joined Hamas in rejecting the classification of Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.
In a statement, the movement criticized the final communiqué of the Cairo foreign ministers’ meeting, which it said failed to condemn or mention the continued Zionist aggression against Palestine.
