Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas today confirmed he will ask the Islamic militant group Hamas to form a new government, as supporters of the ousted Fatah Party demanded party leaders resign in the wake of yesterday's devastating election loss.
President Abbas: will press on with efforts to secure a Palestinian state
Hamas will hold talks with Mr Abbas - probably on Sunday or Monday - on a "political partnership" following its landslide election victory which gave it a shock outright majority in the parliament.
But with the international community alarmed at Hamas's success prospects for Middle East peace have been thrown into jeopardy.
Fatah has ruled out coalition, Israel has said it will not talk to Hamas while there is uncertainty in Hamas about governing alone on strategic grounds. It is also being mooted that its absence of experience in governance is a concern within the party.
Acting Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni appealed to the international community not to legitimise a Palestinian government led by Hamas.
Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip last summer opened a window of opportunity in peace efforts, she said but with the election of Hamas "the Palestinians slammed it shut."
However, polls published today in Israeli newspapers showed strong support among Israelis for talks with a Palestinian government led by Hamas.
The United States and some European nations said Hamas must renounce violence and drop its aspiration for the destruction of Israel.
But Mahmoud Zahar, an incoming Hamas parliamentarian and one of the group's top leaders in Gaza, said the organisation had no immediate plans to change its policies or to restart peace efforts.
"Israel has nothing to give for the Palestinians. All the time they were wasting our time ... implementing nothing," he said.
George W. Bush
"If the Israelis have something to fulfil, the basic demand of the Palestinian people concerning the occupied territories, detainees, question of Jerusalem, our national interests, we are going to re-evaluate this argument," he added.
MEPs are considering cutting off vital aid to the impoverished Palestinian Territories to pressure Hamas to moderate its hard-line positions. And former US president Jimmy Carter has made similar comments.
Economic constraints are likely to curb Hamas' extremism. With the Palestinian Authority dependent on foreign aid and on Israel for day-to-day needs such as electricity, water and the movement of people and goods, Hamas will have a hard time ignoring international calls to renounce violence.
Mr Carter today met with Mr Abbas, who told him that the Palestinian Authority did not have enough money to pay salaries at the end of the month, even with foreign aid.
Avi Dichter, a former Israeli security services chief, said he didn't expect terrorism to rise once Hamas takes over.
"The moment they become partner to the Palestinian government, reality will become a lot more complicated for them than it was when they were a terror organisation alone," he told Israeli Army Radio.
"I think it would be illogical - even insane - for them to toe the extremist line they have been following until now."
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is to meet in London on Monday with UN, Russian and European leaders as the so-called quartet of backers for the Middle East "road map" for peace prepare a more considered response to the rise of Hamas.
In a statement, the Quartet demanded Hamas renounce violence, accept Israel's right to exist, and disarm. Leaders of the EU, the biggest donor to the aid-dependent Palestinian Authority, said Hamas risked international isolation if it did not comply.
President George W Bush said: "I have made it very clear . . . that a political party that articulates the destruction of Israel as part of a platform is a party with which we will not deal,"
Agencies