GAZA CITY, July 2, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas said Saturday, July 2, it was mulling a proposal by the mainstream Fatah movement to form an all-encompassing national unity government.

“Hamas is still considering its position on Fatah’s call and has neither rejected nor accepted it,” Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri told the Doha-based Aljazeera news channel.

In its first full meeting since the death in November of its founder Yasser Arafat, Fatah issued the statement on Thursday, June 30.

“The central committee has decided to call on the different Palestinian movements to take part in a government of national union, taking into account the difficult circumstances which necessitate the unity of our people before the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza strip,” Premier Ahmad Qurei said.

On Friday, July 1, Zuhri told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that Hamas was in favor of the creation of an entity grouping representatives of all Palestinian forces but that does not have to be done through a government.

“The idea of communal action is good but there are differences over the way to do it.”

Hamas has further signaled the possibility of joining the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), provided that it amends its charter along “basics articulated in a charter paper” presented by the movement.

The group's popularity has grown during more than four years of Palestinian Intifada, especially in Gaza Strip, where it made a strong showing in municipal elections earlier this year.

It also beat Fatah in four out of five major cities in the second stage of municipal polls in May before court rulings cancelled results in three main municipalities and ordered a run-off election, originally set on July 17 but later put off until further notice.

Hamas also plans to challenge Fatah in the legislative ballot expected to be held before January 20, 2006.

“The president will travel to Damascus Tuesday or Wednesday for talks with the general secretaries of Palestinian groups,” said Qurei.

In a related development, Qurei said Saturday that President Mahmoud Abbas will visit the Syrian capital next week for talks with resistance leaders on bringing them into the envisaged national unity government.

“The president will travel to Damascus Tuesday or Wednesday for talks with the general secretaries of Palestinian groups,” he told AFP in Amman, where he has been taking part in Fatah's meetings.

Qurei said that Abbas would be also meeting with resistance representatives inside the Palestinian territories.

Samir Al-Mashrawi, a top Palestinian Authority negotiator, said Saturday he had contacted Hamas and other resistance groups, by order of the government, to discuss the formation of a unity government whose prime topic on the agenda would be Israel's pullout plan.

“The offer was prompted by the need to have a national partnership to shoulder responsibility in this very delicate and sensitive situation,” he said.

If proved successful, this would the first time armed resistance groups have been part of a Palestinian government.

The Islamic Jihad resistance faction has ruled out participation in a national unity cabinet.

“We in Islamic Jihad will not participate in any way in such a government as long as the Israeli occupation continues,” Khaled Al-Batsh, a leading Jihad figure, told AFP Friday.

The Palestinian leadership has held a series of discussions with various factions in recent months, including Hamas and Jihad, in a bid to close ranks and forge a united front.

Abbas managed to convince the resistance factions in March to observe a “period of calm” conditional on Israel ending its aggressions against them.