Mashaal: Arab efforts to end the crisis between Hamas and Jordan

The chairman of the political bureau of the Hamas movement, Khaled Mashaal, told the London-based al-Hayat daily that Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad Bin Khaleifa al-Thani stressed "his country's backing to the Palestinian people and their legitimate rights."

On Saturday evening the ruler of Qatar received Khaled Mashaal and its spokesman, Ibrahim Ghoushe, and the two members of the movement's political bureau, Izzat al-Rashq and Sami Khater. This meeting, however, is the first with the ruler of Qatar since the expulsion of the four Hamas leaders from Jordan to Doha last month. Earlier, Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad Bin Jaber received them.

Mashaal described the meeting with the ruler of Qatar as "positive, and we were greatly welcomed." He indicated several meetings with Sheikh Hamad Bin Khaleifa before the expulsion operation.

Mashaal proceeded that the last meeting with the emir of Qatar dealt with "the cause of Palestine, during which we stressed our appreciation for the steadfast stand taken by the people and leadership of Qatar in backing Palestine and the rights of the Palestinians, as well as towards the causes of the Arab and Islamic states."