Hamas dismisses call for Palestinian PM to quit

GAZA, Dec 2 (Reuters) Palestinian Islamist group Hamas today dismissed a call for the resignation of Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh made by the Palestine Liberation Organisation, a body dominated by the rival Fatah party.

The call followed the apparent breakdown of talks between governing Hamas and Fatah over the formation of a unity government that could lift an economic siege on the Palestinian territories brought on by Hamas's refusal to recognise Israel.

''Hamas rejects the statement of the PLO Executive Committee which is a call for a coup against the legitimate Palestinian government,'' Hamas official Ismail Rudwan said.

Hamas won Palestinian elections last January, trouncing Fatah, but has been unable to govern effectively because its refusal to recognise Israel has 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.

Rudwan said that Hamas had wanted to continue dialogue of the formation of a unity government but Abbas repeated on Saturday that talks had reached an impasse.

The PLO's executive committee effectively placed responsibility for the failure of the talks on Haniyeh and his administration and said that he should resign in order to facilitate the formation of the new government.

Palestinians hope the formation of a new administration may lead to the lifting of the foreign sanctions, which have plunged most people deeper into poverty and helped cripple the economy.

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

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.

Haniyeh, said in Cairo on Saturday he would meet leaders from all Palestinian factions in Damascus next week to discuss restructuring the PLO, Egyptian news agency MENA reported.

Rudwan said the current PLO executive committee was an outmoded body, many of whose members had died and had not been replaced, and that it was out of touch with Palestinians.

REUTERS PDM HS1923