Abbas refuses to meet Haneya in Gaza: report

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who arrived in Gaza on Friday, refuses to meet Prime Minster Ismail Haneya for his recent remarks that angered Abbas, an independent Palestinian news agency Maan reported Saturday.

Abbas made the refusal after Haneya spoke before worshipers on Friday that he rejected proposals to form a technocrat government, Maan quoted what it called well-informed sources as saying.

Earlier, Abbas said that he was in favor of forming a technocrat government, but Haneya said Friday that he would prefer forming a unity government to replace the Hamas-led one.

The sources added that Haneya was willing to meet Abbas who was hoping "to get approval from Hamas on forming an internationally accepted government."

Abbas will meet only with leaders of factions that are represented in the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO). This means he will not meet with Hamas or Islamic Jihad (Holy War) leaders.

It is expected that Abbas would agree with the PLO factions on a national memorandum to from the new government and it would be sent to Hamas in order to get their response.

"If Hamas' response was negative, Abbas would break up the current government and form a technocrat one," the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said.

Source: Xinhua