GAZA - Prime Minister Ismail 
Haniyeh of Hamas said on Sunday talks on a Palestian unity government could 
still succeed, brushing aside President Mahmoud Abbas's comment that they had 
reached "point zero" and must start from scratch. 
"We will resume the consultations over the formation of a national unity 
government and I believe we have gone a long way down the road," Haniyeh told 
reporters in the Gaza Strip. "There is a real hope that it will succeed." 
 
 
 |  Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail 
 Haniyeh (2nd R) arrives to his office in Gaza September 17, 2006. 
 President Mahmoud Abbas has frozen talks on forming a Palestinian unity 
 government after Hamas said it would not accept interim peace deals with 
 Israel, two of his aides said on Sunday. But Haniyeh said talks had only 
 been put on hold while Abbas visited New York this week. Other Hamas 
 officials said while there were differences of opinion, formation. 
 [Reuters]
 | 
Abbas plans to travel to Gaza on Monday or Tuesday to resume talks, which he 
froze a week ago before attending the U.N. General Assembly in New York, senior 
aide Saeb Erekat said. 
Erekat said Abbas would tell Hamas: "If you want a unity government, there 
are international requirements that need to be met, and that's the only way to 
form a unity government." 
The moderate Abbas has accused Haniyeh and other Hamas leaders of reneging on 
an agreement reached earlier this month on a political programme for a unity 
government that included recognition of interim peace deals with Israel. 
The row centres on agreeing a political agenda for the unity coalition that 
is clear enough in recognition of Israel to satisfy the West but vague enough 
for Hamas to say it does not contradict their charter, which calls for Israel's 
destruction. 
Palestinians hope formation of a unity government will prompt Western powers 
to ease an aid embargo that has increased poverty and lawlessness in Gaza and 
the occupied West Bank. 
The aid embargo was imposed when Hamas came to power in March to pressure the 
Islamic militant group to meet three conditions: recognise Israel, renounce 
violence and abide by interim peace deals. 
A breakdown in unity talks could trigger fighting between rival armed 
factions loyal to Hamas and Abbas's Fatah movement. Hamas trounced Fatah in 
parliamentary elections in January. 
In a challenge to Abbas, four militant groups threatened to attack any unity 
government that recognises Israel. 
"Any coming (Palestinian unity) government that recognises Israel and its 
right to existence will be a legitimate target for us," said Abu Abir, spokesman 
for the Popular Resistance Committees. "We will fight it by all means and we 
will deal with it as an extension of the Zionist occupation." 
MAJOR OBSTACLES TO DEAL 
Yasser Abed Rabbo, an official with the umbrella Palestine Liberation 
Organisation headed by Abbas, said a unity government would not be possible 
unless Hamas accepted interim peace deals, an Arab peace initiative and U.N. 
resolutions. 
"Otherwise it will suffer in the same way that the Hamas-monopolised 
government suffered," he said. 
Washington has threatened to shun Fatah members who join a government led by 
Hamas if that government does not meet the three conditions. 
Abbas, who met U.S. President George W. Bush at the United Nations last week, 
is under U.S. pressure to force Hamas to make concessions. Washington had hoped 
Abbas would sack the Hamas-led government, not join it. 
Speaking at the U.N. General Assembly on Thursday, Abbas said "any future 
Palestinian government" would honour all previous interim peace accords with 
Israel. Hamas said it would not join any unity government that recognised 
Israel. 
"Unfortunately, we are back to point zero," Abbas said on Saturday of the 
unity talks. 
The impasse in unity government talks come as economic conditions worsen for 
Palestinians. 
A poll published on Sunday showed 73 percent of 165,000 Palestinian 
government workers are no longer able to make ends meet because of unpaid wages 
and 22 percent wish to emigrate. 
"The suffering is real," said Samir Hleleh, managing director of British firm 
Portland Trust which conducted the survey with the Palestinian Economists 
Association.