RAMALLAH, Feb. 28 (Xinhuanet) -- A senior leader of the Fatah movement said on Tuesday that the group would continue talks on Wednesday with the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), which won last month's parliamentary elections, over the formation of a Hamas-led new Palestinian government.

    Azzam Al-Ahmed, Fatah chief in the newly-elected Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), told the local "Voice of Palestine"radio that he and senior Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar agreed at a meeting held in the Jordanian city of Aqaba overnight that the two groups would resume talks on Wednesday over the possibility of Fatah's participation in a national unity cabinet to be formed by Hamas.

    Al-Ahmed added that the fresh meeting would be held on the Palestinian territories.

    "Fatah is still waiting for a written response from Hamas to clarify certain political issues, on which the two groups disagree," he said. "We expect this to happen probably by next week."

    Last week, al-Ahmed said after a meeting with Zahar at the latter's residence in the Gaza Strip that Fatah did not object to joining a Hamas-led cabinet, but the participation would come on certain conditions.

    Meanwhile, Fatah's powerful Revolutionary Council is scheduled to hold a special meeting in both Gaza and the West Bank next week to evaluate Fatah's crushing defeat in the Jan. 25 polls and discuss whether the group would join the Hamas-led government.

    Fatah, now led by President Mahmoud Abbas, has only managed to get 45 seats in the 132-member new parliament, while Hamas, 76 seats.

    Abbas has formally tasked Hamas leader Ismail Haneya with forming a new government, which is expected to come in weeks.

    Hamas has been engaged in active talks with parliament parties in a bid to set up a unity government.

    Fatah, the largest opposition bloc in the legislature, has not decided on its possible participation in the cabinet up till now.  Enditem