Abbas says Hamas "too vague" on peace agenda

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has told Hamas its response to his call to follow his peace agenda in government is too vague, officials said yesterday.

Abbas, who has urged Hamas to adopt his vision of negotiated peace with Israel, gave it two more weeks to clarify its position before it presents an administration to parliament for a confidence vote.

Palestinian officials said Hamas prime minister-designate Ismail Haniyeh handed Abbas on Friday the group's written response to a formal accreditation letter asking it to form a government that abides by interim peace deals with Israel.

Palestinian officials said both Abbas and Hamas were trying to reach a common ground and avoid tensions that could result in political paralysis or even violence, but that a clash was inevitable.

Hamas, whose charter calls for the Jewish state's destruction, swept to victory over Abbas's Fatah faction in the January 25 election on pledges to clean up corruption in the Palestinian Authority and seek statehood through armed struggle.

Haniyeh said coalition negotiations with Fatah had entered their final stage.

In remarks to the Asharq al-Awsat newspaper, he said Hamas's government platform would not be a carbon copy of its election manifesto and most of its members would be "technocrats, independents and experts" drawn from outside parliament.

Hamas official As'ad Farhat told Reuters that Abbas had not placed any conditions on Hamas.

But Palestinian officials said Abbas had asked Haniyeh for a clear yes or no on accepting prior interim peace deals with Israel, telling him that Hamas could not throw out accords because they contradicted the Islamic group's agenda.

Israel refuses to negotiate with Hamas, saying it could not consider dealing with the group until it renounces violence and recognises its existence and previous Israeli-Palestinian agreements.