Palestinian PM rules out Hamas talks, official says

2.30pm

GAZA - Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas ruled out dialogue with Hamas after the militant group broke off truce talks in protest at his conciliatory remarks at a peace summit with Israel, a Palestinian official said on Saturday.

"Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas will not meet with Hamas, even if Hamas requests to meet him. Their irresponsible decision has indicated that they are not interested in cementing the national unity of the Palestinian people," the official told Reuters, referring to Hamas' walkout on Friday.

Hamas has spearheaded suicide bombings and other attacks against Israelis in a 32-month-old Palestinian uprising for independence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war. Abbas pledged to rein in militants in keeping with a US-backed "road map" to Palestinian statehood by 2005 -- but prefers internal consensus to a crackdown.

Hamas suspended talks after Wednesday's summit in the Jordanian resort of Aqaba, where Abbas, speaking alongside Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and US President George W Bush, reiterated he would demilitarise the uprising but did not mention key Palestinian demands of Israel.

- REUTERS