Abbas, in talks with Rice, defends unity deal

RAMALLAH, West Bank, Feb 18 (Reuters) Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas defended his unity deal with Hamas in talks with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice today after US and Israeli threats to shun a coalition government.

Pledging to continue to ''probe the diplomatic horizon'', Rice travelled to the occupied West Bank to meet the moderate Palestinian leader just hours after Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said prospects for peace had dimmed.

Rice, Olmert and Abbas are all due to meet in Jerusalem tomorrow, but no joint news conference is planned -- a sign that expectations are low.

The deal leaders of the Islamist Hamas movement reached in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, this month with Abbas's Fatah faction ended weeks of internal fighting that killed more than 90 Palestinians.

But Western officials said the agreement fell short of meeting policy terms set by international mediators.

''Abu Mazen (Abbas) specified (to Rice) that his paramount, cardinal interest is to end the Palestinian inner-fighting, to end the chaos and lawlessness,'' Saeb Erekat, a senior Abbas aide.

With Abbas sat at her side at the start of the 2-1/2 hour meeting, Rice said she hoped Monday's trilateral talks would be ''an opportunity to understand the current situation and commit and recommit to existing peace agreements''.

Olmert told his cabinet that US President George W Bush had agreed in a telephone call on Friday to boycott Abbas's planned unity government with Hamas group if international terms were not satisfied.

The Quartet of West Asia mediators, comprising the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations, have insisted that any Palestinian government must recognise Israel, renounce violence and abide by interim peace accords.

''A Palestinian government that does not accept the Quartet's conditions cannot receive recognition, and there will not be cooperation with it,'' Olmert, due to see Rice later in the day, said in broadcast comments.

''HORIZON FOR PEACE'' Palestinians had also hoped the power-sharing pact, which contained a vague promise to ''respect'' previous peace deals, could persuade Western donors to restore direct aid cut off to the Palestinian Authority after Hamas won election a year ago.

At the start of her talks with Abbas, Rice said she looked forward to hearing more from him on the unity arrangement. Abbas said he and Rice would discuss the Mecca agreement and explore ''the horizon for the peace process'' at tomorrow's talks.

Earlier, in talks with Israeli Defence Minister Amir Peretz, Rice was asked whether there was agreement to boycott a unity government.

She did not respond, although she said yesterday such a decision had not yet been made.

Senior Palestinian officials said Abbas replied angrily to a US official who warned him yesterday that Washington would have no contact with unity government ministers, including Fatah members, if the Quartet's terms were not met.

''President Abbas ... shouted (at the official), saying: 'You are placing pressure on me. I have internal pressure -- the pressure is unbearable. The only alternative to this agreement is civil war','' one Palestinian official said.

While pledging to maintain contacts with Abbas, US officials are becoming impatient with the Palestinian president, whose staff said he would not budge from the Mecca deal.

Reuters AB DB2059