Mideast mediators tackle new Palestinian coalition

BERLIN, Feb 21 (Reuters) Under pressure to soften their stand against a new Palestinian unity government, Middle East mediators meet in Berlin today to hammer out differences over how to deal with it.

Europeans see the coalition deal made between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the militant group Hamas in Mecca as the best chance to avoid a civil war but Washington is more cautious and wants to continue an isolation campaign of Hamas.

Russia is pushing for contact with Hamas and for an aid embargo to be lifted and European Union foreign ministers who met last week are inclined to see the Mecca agreement as ''a glass half full, rather than half empty'', an EU official said.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who arrived in Berlin late yesterday, is expected to report back to the quartet of Middle East mediators on a summit she hosted in Jerusalem on Monday between Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

Rice wants the quartet, comprising the United Nations, Russia, the European Union and the United States, to play a bigger role in trying to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace moves, but she also wants to keep up pressure on Hamas.

The Jerusalem summit made little apparent progress in pushing the peace process forward except for a promise for the two leaders to meet again soon and much of the discussion was dominated by the new unity government deal.

Germany, which is hosting the Berlin meeting as European Union president, said the quartet must take advantage of any opportunity to revive peace hopes, regardless of differences.

''Independently of the situation in individual countries, all those taking part in the quartet recognise the possibilities that exist for the region and that they must be used,'' German government spokesman Thomas Steg said.

SOFTEN STANCE Abbas is due to visit Germany on Friday to meet Chancellor Angela Merkel to explain the new government deal, a clear sign of support for his efforts to form a unity government.

The quartet has said it will withhold judgment on the coalition until its policies are known but urged any government to recognise Israel, renounce violence and abide by past Israeli-Palestinian agreements.

A senior U.S. official travelling with Rice said it was unlikely major decisions would be taken at the quartet meeting as the unity government had not yet been formed.

Hamas said it hoped Washington and the rest of the quartet would soften their position. Arab nations such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia, which helped broker the deal in Mecca, also believe the government should be given a chance.

In European eyes, the Mecca agreement is the best hope to avoid a Palestinian civil war and it was essential that the Quartet should not make premature judgments or slam any doors, an EU official said.

Another official said EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner would discuss ideas for a new mechanism to assist the Palestinians in the fields of governance, institution building and economic development.

This work, on top of an existing mechanism for channelling aid to the needy while bypassing the Palestinian Authority, should precede any decision on whether to re-engage with a new Palestinian government.

''In the end, the United States and other western countries will have to find a way to talk to Hamas because any agreement without Hamas is pointless,'' said Isabel Schaefer, Middle East expert at Berlin's Free University.

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