ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) - The pro-U.S. camp of Arab nations sought to solidify their front against Iran, making a show of unity Tuesday aimed at pushing Tehran’s ally Hamas to sign onto a long-term truce with Israel.

Foreign ministers from Egypt, Saudi Arabia and other Arab nations gathered in a hastily-thrown together meeting in this Gulf emirate as Hamas officials were holding new talks with Egyptian mediators, under pressure to sign onto a Gaza truce by Thursday.

The gathering represented a more assertive push by Arab governments to push Hamas toward an Egyptian-mediated truce - and away from Iran. It also made starkly clear the split in the Arab world between U.S. allies and a pro-Iranian camp, particularly Syria, which backs Hamas and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

Damascus was not invited to the meeting - nor was Qatar, which has taken an increasingly pro-Hamas turn since Israel’s 3-week offensive in Gaza.

"We have to ensure with our unity that unwelcomed, non-Arab parties do not interfere in our affairs in an unneeded manner," the United Arab Emirates’ foreign minister, Sheik Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, said in a clear reference to Persian Iran.

Egypt, Saudi Arabia and allied Arab nations accuse Iran of using its alliance with Hamas to increase its influence in the region and gain a foothold on Israel’s doorstep. Iran gives millions of dollars to Hamas, helping prop up its control of Gaza, and is believed to supply the militants with weapons - though Tehran denies this.

In another sign of the deepening chasm, Hamas’ Syria-based top political chief Khaled Mashaal was in Tehran this week, meeting with its supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and hard-line president, thanking them for Iran’s backing during Israel’s assault against Hamas and seeking Iran’s help in rebuilding the devastated territory.

Egypt is trying to mediate a durable Hamas-Israel truce in place of the temporary and increasingly wobbly cease-fire that ended the Gaza war. Egypt has set a Thursday deadline for Hamas to accept a deal.

But the complicated details of an accord appeared unresolved.

Hamas demands that any truce include the opening of borders into Gaza, which Israel and Egypt have largely kept sealed since the militant group seized control of the territory in 2007. It also wants a role in running the borders in recognition of its power in Gaza. Israel, however, demands international guarantees that Hamas will not be able to rearm by smuggling in weapons and does not want a Hamas role at the crossings.

So Egypt has focused on installing at the crossing forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whose supporters were driven out of Gaza in Hamas’ takeover. Egypt’s proposals would include some form of symbolic Hamas presence at the crossings - along with European monitors.

Egypt is also pressing Hamas and Abbas’ Palestinian Authority to enter reconcilation talks to form a unity government that can conduct peace negotiations with Israel.

Egypt’s top negotiator, intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, met with Hamas officials in Cairo on Tuesday in a last minute push for a deal.

Ahmed Abdel-Hadi, a Lebanon-based Hamas official, said the movement is ready to commit to a yearlong truce, with the possibility of extending it, in exchange for open borders.

"The coming hours are going to be sensitive, in order to bring out a draft of an agreement, regarding the calm and opening the borders of Gaza," Abdel-Hadi told Gaza’s Al Quds Radio. "There is an agreement in principle about a calm (cease-fire) for one year.

But the movement could show flexibility regarding the time ... if there are guarantees and commitments to lift the sanctions and open the borders."

Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza, said the movement is open to extending the cease-fire to 18 months. He said key to any truce is that Egypt open its crossing with Gaza, but said that the details of running the terminal are open to discussion.