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US says it will shun future Hamas-Fatah coalition
munaeem | 15 February, 2007 19:20
Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas resigned on Thursday in a procedural move aimed at launching a unity government with President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction, an official in Haniyeh's office told Reuters.
The official said Haniyeh tendered his resignation to Abbas during a meeting in Gaza, in a first step towards putting together a new government with the aim of ending factional warfare and overcoming a Western aid boycott of Hamas. "The prime minister has resigned," the official said.
But The United States has informed Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas that it will shun a future Hamas-Fatah coalition government because it will not explicitly recognize Israel, Abbas aides said Thursday.
That position would be a severe blow to Abbas, who is trying to reach a power-sharing deal to end Palestinian infighting and to get crippling international sanctions on the government lifted.
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