CAIRO, Feb 7: The Hamas plans to formally ask its political rival Fatah to join a new Palestinian government expected to be formed this month, an official said on Monday.

“We are going to sit down with them and officially propose that they take part in the government,” senior Hamas official Ismail Haniya said after talks in Cairo

Ismail Haniya and another leader Mahmud Zahar are being tipped as possible prime ministers.

“We are going to sit down with them and officially propose that they take part in the government,” said.

“We are awaiting the official response from the Fatah leadership,” Mr Haniya was quoted as saying by the news agency MENA after a meeting with Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman.

After their crushing defeat, leaders of the long-dominant Fatah movement of Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas ruled out joining a coalition with Hamas, whose election victory triggered alarm in Israel and the West.

“Hamas has not so far asked us to join a government,” said Nabil Shaath, a Fatah central committee member and outgoing deputy prime minister.

“But if they do ask us, they must present their political programme and all the details about their government and then we will discuss this issue among the Fatah leadership,” he said.

“So far the majority has been against the idea of joining the government... If they give us their programme we will discuss this issue and we will not evade our responsibilities to the Palestinian people.”

Israel has warned it will not transfer funds owed to the Palestinian Authority to a Hamas-led government and the United States and Europe have threatened to curtail funding if Hamas does not commit itself to non-violence and recognise the Jewish state’s right to exist.

Egypt’s intelligence chief had said during a visit to Cairo by Mr Abbas last week that despite Hamas’s sweeping victory, it would not be asked to form a new government if did not recognise Israel.

Hamas officials have used conciliatory language since the election, stressing that the movement was not obliged to recognise Israel, but adding it wanted to speed up its inclusion in a revamped Palestine Liberation Organisation, which signed the 1993 Oslo peace accords with Israel.

Hamas leaders have also expressed their willingness to observe a long-term truce with the Jewish state. —AFP