The United States is stalling inter-Palestinian...

Meshaal, who is arriving in Moscow on Monday just over a week after Palestinian National Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas, said in an interview with Vremya Novostei that "U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell has been recently implying pressure on Mahmoud Abbas and Egyptian officials."

Egypt plays the role of a mediator between the two factions, Hamas and Fatah, which until recently had no direct dialogue.

Meshaal said that Washington is trying to convince Abbas "that if he agrees to the reconciliation with us [Hamas], the United States will stop assisting the Palestinian Authority."

He added that another reason for a standstill in the talks is that the Egypt-brokered text of the agreement between the rival parties was amended without the consent of Hamas.

"There were some provisions in the text, which were amended without our agreement, or were excluded at all," he said.

Meshaal also said that the United States and Russia have strikingly different

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