Ismail Haneya, Hamas candidate for Palestinian prime minister, said on Tuesday night that he had officially received the letter of appointment from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to start the process of forming a new cabinet.

Hamas had launched contacts with all Palestinian political parties and factions since the Hamas-dominated parliament was sworn in last Saturday. But the long dominant Fatah, which was defeated by Hamas in last month's parliamentary elections, has so far refused to join a Hamas-led government.

"We are determined to continue with these contacts until we form a national unity government," Haneya told reporters following a two-hour meeting with Abbas at the latter's office in Gaza City.

"We want to form a national unity government that gains the confidence of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) and this government would shoulder the responsibility for our people," Haneya noted.

Azzam al-Ahmed, head of Fatah movement in the PLC, arrived in Gaza from the West Bank to hold talks on Wednesday with Hamas leaders.

Haneya said that Hamas would have a comprehensive dialogue with Fatah with open minds.

"We would present everything on the table during the dialogue with our Fatah brothers," he said. "We are very much interested in achieving the political partnership."

"We hope that we will reach an agreement with Fatah movement and form a large national unity Palestinian cabinet," Haneya said.

Haneya will have five weeks to form a cabinet.

Source: Xinhua