A famed Palestinian lawmaker said on Wednesday that a Palestinian coalition government would be the only exit of the ongoing political and financial crisis in the Palestinian territories.

"There has been no reason to prevent the formation of a national-unity government," Mustafa al-Barghouti, a lawmaker of the National Initiative party, told local radio Voice of Palestine.

Al-Barghouti asserted that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was waiting a response from Prime Minister Ismail Haneya on the practical steps to form the coalition.

Calling on Hamas to speed up taking measures to form the government, al-Barghouti said the coalition, if it was formed, will prevent early elections from taking place.

Al-Barghouti made the remarks as unpaid Palestinian public servants started on Saturday an open-ended strike to protest the delay in paying their salaries they haven't got since March.

"The employees have right to go on strike, and this is a certain, democratic right," said al-Barghouti. However, he underscored that the future of the Palestinians was more important than the strike.

Since the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), which won in January legislative elections and formed the new government single- handedly in late march, more than 160,000 civil and security servants haven't been paid their salaries regularly.

The donor countries, which used to aid the Palestinian Treasury, refused to continue sending donations until the new Hamas-led government meet their conditions in recognizing Israel, the signed accords and condemning violence.

Source: Xinhua