Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa has said that a special council will be formed to reconcile rival factions Hamas and Fatah.

"The Arab ministers discussed three main (Palestinian) issues in a recent meeting," 

Moussa told a press conference, referring to a closed Arab foreign ministers emergency meeting held Sunday in Cairo. "The dangerous situation in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank in light of the dangerous Israeli activities" was the first issue of concern, according to Moussa, who added that a second concern was the non-stop Zionist settlement activity.

He added, "The third issue is a resolution calling on the Palestinian sides Hamas and Fatah to pursue internal dialogue, to stress on the national Palestinian unity and on the leadership of the Palestinian Liberation Organization."

The two rivals currently engaged in a bitter struggle over control in the Palestinian territories. The council's role will be discussed in the next foreign ministers meeting scheduled for January 27, Moussa said.

During the press conference, Moussa also addressed a planned historic trip by US President George W Bush to the region, in which he is scheduled to hold separate meetings with Ehud Olmert in Tel Aviv and Abbas in the West Bank. "We wait for President Bush, who called for the Annapolis (peace) conference, to take responsibility for it. We want to see results on the ground. "The Arab side is concerned and fearful that no progress, or retraction for that matter, concerning what has been promised will occur," said Moussa.