Fatah seeks national unity government with Hamas

Leaders of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement yesterday endorsed a national unity government with the rival Hamas group to end feuding they say Israel has exploited to stall on Middle East peace pledges.

Veteran Fatah leader Nabil Shaath said at the end of three days of talks in Amman that the 17-member Central Committee, the governing body of the long dominant Palestinian movement, now sought a unity government with the Islamist group which defeated Fatah in January elections.

Abbas and Hamas agreed last week to restart negotiations on a unity government in the hope of easing a Western aid embargo imposed to pressure the militant group to recognise Israel and renounce violence.

A Hamas spokesman in Gaza, Sami Abu Zuhri, told Reuters the group welcomed Fatah's decision, saying it created the right atmosphere for consultations under way to form a unity administration.

Fatah also welcomed a move by Hamas to drop its insistence on entering into talks on a coalition government only after Israel frees some 35 of its politicians and cabinet ministers arrested after gunmen from Gaza abducted an Israeli soldier in a cross-border raid in late June.

Israel has accused them of membership of a banned organisation. Hamas said the arrest of key administration members was aimed at toppling its government.

Some Palestinian leaders said the Israeli failure to achieve a military victory in Lebanon by eliminating Hizbollah guerillas had given impetus to renewed efforts to unify ranks against common enemy Israel.

Palestinians fear that if discussions between Hamas and Fatah fail, there is a danger of a return to the violent power struggle that followed the elections. Abu Zuhri said Hamas would not place any preconditions on the talks. Leaders of Fatah also said they were not placing conditions on Hamas, even though a national government must adopt a pragmatic approach towards resuming peace talks with Israel.

Palestinian sources said Fatah hardliners prevented Abbas supporters from adopting a communique that would have given a mandate to the moderate leader to impose a political programme on Hamas that explicitly demands recognition of Israel.

The communique stressed support for a "national unity government with the participation of all Palestinian forces" on the basis of a political deal over a prisoners' document reached between Hamas and Abbas last June that defused tensions.