MAKKAH, Jan 7: In a palace overlooking Islam’s holiest site, rival Palestinian leaders vowed on Wednesday to hammer out a power-sharing agreement to avert a civil war, asking their followers to abide by a truce during the marathon talks crucial to the peace process with Israel.

But threats of new revenge attacks arose in Gaza after the killing of a Hamas activist the night before — underlining the danger of an explosion of new factional fighting if the talks in Saudi Arabia fail.

“We will not leave this holy place until we have agreed on everything good, with God’s blessing,” Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said at an opening ceremony for the Makkah talks, sitting alongside Khaled Mashaal, head of the Hamas group.

“I tell our people to expect good news, and I hope this (meeting) will not be mere words in the air,” Abbas said at the ceremony, which was aired live on television across the Middle East. Mashaal turned to Abbas and said they both had to tell their supporters to respect the truce, to which Abbas nodded his agreement.

“We want to give a message to the nation, and the world, to create a positive atmosphere for these talks,” Mashaal said. “We came here to agree and we have no other option but to agree,” the Hamas leader said.In two rounds of talks between Abbas and Mashaal on Wednesday, Saudi King Abdullah and Saudi officials did not participate, trying to let the two sides work out the issues by themselves.—AP