Saudi says no more mediation between Palestinians

RIYADH, June 24 (Reuters) Saudi Arabia will not repeat its efforts to mediate between warring Palestinian factions, after a Saudi-brokered unity government fell apart this month, the foreign minister said in comments published today.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas last week sacked the unity government led by Hamas after the Islamist group seized control of the Gaza Strip in fighting with his Fatah movement.

The unity government was born after a meeting between Hamas and Fatah leaders in the Muslim holy city of Mecca in February.

The Saudi-brokered Mecca agreement briefly ended a period of violent internecine clashes.

''The kingdom played its part at the right time and so it will not return to the same effort. It's activity will be via the Arab League and in partnership with the Arab countries,'' Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said in comments published in Saudi media.

''The responsibility lies with the Palestinians who have arrived at the edge of an abyss. Either they rise above their differences or they completely fall into that abyss,'' he said in a meeting with Saudi newspaper editors in France.

King Abdullah is leading a Saudi delegation to European and Arab countries for talks with foreign leaders that are focussing on Palestinian infighting and efforts to restart peace talks with Israel, as well as civil strife in Lebanon.

The Mecca agreement had been the jewel in the crown of a Saudi diplomatic push to regulate regional disputes as forces such as Hamas, Lebanon's Hezbollah, Iran and Syria appear to challenge the US-backed order in the region.

Saudi Arabia, a long-time ally of Washington, is seeking to quash regional threats to stability, using its prestige as home to Islam's holiest sites and its vast wealth as the world's biggest oil exporter.

REUTERS SBC RN1841