RAMALLAH, Jan. 26 (Xinhuanet) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday accepted Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei's resignation, but asked him to stay till a new cabinet is formed, official Palestinian sources said.

   They said that Abbas accepted Qurei's resignation and accepted to form a new cabinet by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) if the final and official results of Wednesday's parliamentary elections show Hamas won.

   Qurei presented a letter of resignation to Abbas earlier in the day during a meeting in Ramallah, to allow Hamas to form a new government, hours after Hamas claimed victory in Wednesday's parliamentary elections.

   Meanwhile, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat announced that Abbas would soon ask Hamas to form a new Palestinian cabinet.

   "President Abbas would soon implement the law and ask Hamas that won in the parliamentary election to form the Palestinian cabinet," said Erekat.

   According to the Palestinian law of election, the president would ask the party or the group that gets the most seats in the parliamentary elections to form new government, he added.

   Erekat, meanwhile, ruled out the fact that Fatah, which lost in the race, would join a new cabinet formed by Hamas, saying that Fatah would become part of the constructive opposition.

   "Hamas will be asked to form the new government" and "we in Fatah will not join them and we will be a loyal opposition and rebuild the party," Erekat stressed.

   Hamas, a major militant group against Israeli occupation, claimed that it has won 77 seats out of a total of 132 in the new parliament.

   Hamas leader Ismail Haneya said that Hamas intends to hold contacts with Abbas and other factions on the future of the political partnership. Enditem