Hamas rejects Abbas's new government as illegal

GAZA, July 14 (Reuters) Hamas today rejected as unconstitutional a new government appointed by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to replace a Hamas-led administration.

Abbas, who leads the secular Fatah faction, disbanded a government led by the Islamist group and formed an emergency administration after Hamas seized the Gaza Strip by force on June 14. Since then he has ruled by emergency decree.

Responding to a constitutional limit on the 30-day state of emergency, Abbas yesterday swore in three new ministers and reappointed Salam Fayyad as prime minister after he formally stepped down.

Fatah said the manoeuvres put the government on a new legal footing.

But Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said the caretaker government was illegal. He said the Islamist group ''will not deal with it in any way or form, and we call upon our people not to deal with it''.

Hamas has called for a special session of the Palestinian parliament to be convened tomorrow to try to challenge Abbas's decisions. It is unclear how the session can be held since Fatah is expected to boycott it.

Hamas won a majority of the seats in parliament in a January 2006 election, but Israel has arrested about half of the group's 74 legislators and it can no longer assemble a majority.

REUTERS CS MIR KP1615