Fatah OKs Unity Government With Hamas

Top leaders of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party gave their leader the go-ahead Friday to begin forming a unity government with the militant Hamas in an effort to end internal feuding and international isolation, a party member said.

The Fatah Central Committee gave Abbas "all the powers to begin consultations with all the national factions in order to form a national unity government," Fatah member Hani al-Hassan said.

Al-Hassan said the problems within the Palestinian community were not due to differences between Fatah and Hamas.

"The problem is the Israeli occupation," he said.

"We want a national unity government, which is important to mobilize efforts," he added. "The important thing is that the brothers in Hamas realize we want a national unity government which would be accepted by the international community as well. We want a government which could lift the political and economic blockade, and we want the world to stand by us."

Nabil Shaath, an aide to Abbas, said the committee also criticized the "Israeli aggression which imposed an immoral and illegtimate blockade" on the Palestinians and blamed the United States for "part of it."

The central committee's meetings, which began Wednesday, were the first gathering of its kind since the party's stunning defeat by Hamas in parliamentary elections held in January. Hamas, which heads the Palestinian government, has since been marginalized by the international community and has come under a crippling economic boycott for refusing to recognize Israel.

Abbas hopes a coalition will force Hamas to moderate its anti-Israel stance and help open the way for the renewal of broader peace talks.

"The problem is not between Fatah and Hamas as it is portrayed by some, it is how to save the Palestinian national project and face the current crisis," al-Hassan said.

Fatah's meetings were held in Amman because some of its 17 members are barred from entering the West Bank.