CAIRO, November 20, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – The Association of Muslim Scholars (AMS), the leading Sunni body in Iraq, on Sunday, November 20, welcomed Iraqi President Jalal Talabani's readiness to talk with resistance leaders.

Speaking to Al-Jazeera news channel, Abdallah Al-Duri, a senior legal advisor at the Cairo-based Arab League, said Talabani's gesture was a good starting point to cement Iraqi ranks.

Talabani said at a press conference on Saturday, November 19, on the sidelines of the Iraqi National Accord Conference, that he was ready to receive members of resistance movements in his capacity as the "president of all Iraqis."

"If those who call themselves the Iraqi resistance desired to contact me, I would welcome them. I would not refuse to meet any Iraqi who wants to meet me. But of course that does not mean I will accept what they say," he said.

Unabated resistance attacks, which started after the US occupation in 2003, has left so far up to 2,000 US servicemen killed, sending shockwaves across the United States.

Resistance factions have distanced themselves from militants who target mosques and innocent civilians.

In his opening speech, Talabani denounced armed resistance, calling for "peaceful and political resistance."

Iraqi leaders from the country's ethnic and religious mosaic said Sunday they were patching up differences on the second day of reconciliation talks in Cairo that had kicked off amid deep sectarian divisions and a fresh wave of bloodshed at home.

The first of the three days of talks on Saturday was marked by bitter recriminations between the war-torn country's factions and a brief walkout from one session by Shiite and Kurdish delegations, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Participants tried to iron out their differences Sunday and Amer Al-Tamimi, a member of Iraq's ruling coalition, told reporters that the leaders involved in the talks were discussing a February 23 start date for the Iraq conference.

Talabani adopted a conciliatory tone, and told reporters that "Baathists who had not committed crimes against the Iraqi people" were welcome to take part in the reconciliation process.

"To those who took up arms to end the occupation, we say that the solution will not come through weapons but through political dialogue and democratic means," he said.

Mohsen Abdel Hamid, the secretary general of Iraq's main Sunni political party, the Islamic Party, acknowledged progress had been made.

"We were able to reach closer positions on important issues such as a timetable for a withdrawal (of foreign troops), national unity and the distinction between terrorism and resistance," he said.

Three committees tasked with preparing a wider reconciliation conference in Baghdad, with "building confidence" and drafting the Cairo gathering's final statement further began meeting Sunday.