Top PLO body calls on Palestinian PM to resign

RAMALLAH, West Bank, Dec 1 (Reuters) The executive committee of the Fatah-dominated Palestine Liberation Organisation has called on Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of the rival party Hamas to resign.

''The executive committee asks Haniyeh to resign to pave the way for the formation of a new government,'' committee member Samir Ghosheh told Reuters Today.

Hamas won Palestinian elections in January, defeating Fatah, but has been unable to govern effectively because its refusal to recognise Israel led to an aid cut-off by Western powers and a freeze on the handover of tax receipts by Israel.

President Mahmoud Abbas, who belongs to Fatah and heads the PLO, has given up months of efforts to form a Hamas-Fatah unity government, saying this week the talks had reached a dead end.

Efforts to form a replacement government are under way, the main options being for Abbas to dismiss the Hamas-led government and form another, or to call a national referendum on whether new elections should be held.

''The executive committee will discuss all the options and will take a final decision in three or four days,'' when Abbas returns from a trip to Gaza, Ghosheh said.

The executive committee wants Haniyeh to quit before decisions are taken on the next step. It cannot force him to resign, but its call is likely to put further pressure on him to step aside as efforts are made to replace his administration.

Haniyeh left the Gaza Strip this week on a foreign tour and is not expected to return to the Palestinian territories for at least a month, possibly only in January.

Palestinians hope the formation of a new government without Hamas at its heart will lead to the lifting of foreign sanctions imposed after Hamas came to power, which have plunged most people deeper into poverty and helped cripple the economy.

Hamas is sworn to Israel's destruction and is labelled a terrorist group by the United States, European Union and Israel.

Western powers and Israel have said they will lift the sanctions only if the Hamas government recognises Israel's right to exist, renounces violence and abides by peace treaties. Hamas has said it will never recognise Israel's right to exist.

REUTERS PB RK2100