Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Monday that Israel would reconsider its position on the Hamas-Fatah coalition government if captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit is freed, local daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported.

Speaking at the Knesset's (parliament) Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Olmert also said that he would be willing to listen to what Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has to say during an upcoming three-way summit along with the U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Feb. 19.

"I am not giving Abbas legitimacy, neither am I saluting him, but I want to listen to him," he was quoted by Yedioth Ahronoth as saying.

Early on Sunday, Israeli officials warned that the Jewish state would cut off its ties with Palestinian National Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas if the Palestinians fail to meet the international Quartet's demands of accepting the existence of Israel, recognizing previous peace agreements and renouncing violence.

However, Olmert later softened Israel's stance on the "Mecca agreement" for a Palestinian unity government.

He told the cabinet that "at this stage, Israel neither rejects nor accepts the agreement. Like the international community, we are studying what was achieved in the agreement, what it says and the basis of the consensus."

Leaders of Palestinian rival Fatah and Hamas movements signed last Thursday an agreement in Saudi city of Mecca on forming a national unity government aimed at ending infighting and lifting international sanctions.

However, the United States and Israel remained cautious on the deal, insisting that the future Palestinian government must accept all the three international conditions.

Israeli government had declared the agreement unacceptable last week.

Source: Xinhua