Sacked Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haneya Monday welcomed Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's call on the Palestinian ranks to resume internal dialogue in a bid to defuse the current crisis.

"We are ready to start this dialogue immediately," Haneya said in a written statement distributed to the media. "The Egyptian call reflects Egypt's understating of the graveness of the situation."

Mubarak made the appeal during a four-way summit held in Egypt's Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh earlier in the day which was also attended by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Jordanian King Abdullah II and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

The summit came 11 days after Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip following fierce clashes with security services that lay under the control of Abbas who leads Fatah movement.

Hamas, which is facing increasing isolation from Israel and the west after it took over Gaza, also faces isolation from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who sacked the Hamas-led unity government and formed an emergency government.

Hamas has made several overtures to Abbas for talks, which were, however, rebuffed by the Palestinian leadership, saying that there would be no dialogue before the Islamists were held to account for the take-over of security forces in Gaza.

Source: Xinhua