A Palestinian official from the ruling Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) warned Friday that Hamas would not join a planned coalition government if it is asked to recognize Israel first, said media reports.

Ahmed Yousef, political adviser to Prime Minister Ismail Haneya told reporters that there will be no national unity government if Hamas is asked to recognize Israel.

The political program of the proposed unity government did not include recognizing Israel, he stressed.

Instead of recognizing Israel, Hamas was prepared to agree to a "long-term truce" with the Jewish state, which might last for about 10 years, Yousef said.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Thursday that any new Palestinian government would recognize Israel.

After months of on-and-off talks, Abbas and Haneya agreed on Aug. 17 on forming a coalition government with a new moderate political program based on Prisoners Document of National Accordance initiated by Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, which calls for a Palestinian statehood alongside Israel and a truce with Israel to end the ongoing violence in the Palestinian territories.

The move to form a coalition government was seen as an effort to end international isolation and the West's aid blockade of the Hamas-led government.

According to the Abbas-Haneya deal, the incumbent Hamas-led government will be dismissed and replaced by a coalition government consisting of at least Hamas and Fatah, the biggest Palestinian faction led by President Abbas.

Source: Xinhua