Special report: Hamas-led cabinet takes office

    GAZA, May 2 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is to meet Prime Minister and senior Hamas leader Ismail Haneya later this week over a proposal to hold national dialogue aimed to achieve unity, a senior official announced here on Tuesday.

    Secretary general of the Hamas-led cabinet Mohammed Awad said that the coming meeting would focus on holding inter-Palestinian talks which would be participated by all Palestinian factions.

    Abbas and Haneya will set a date for the dialogue aimed to achieve national unity and deal with the current difficulties,Awad told local radio the "Voice of Palestine."

    Defeating the long dominant Fatah movement led by President Abbas in the January legislative elections, Hamas single-handedly set up a new government after other factions including Fatah refused to join.

    The new cabinet consisting of Hamas members and several independents took office on March 29 and is currently facing a stringent financial shortage and political isolation.

    In mid April, Prime Minister and senior Hamas leader Ismail Haneya reached out to other Palestinian factions, proposing talks toward forming a governing coalition in the face of internal and external pressures.

    Hamas, or the Islamic Resistance Movement, has been sworn to Israel's destruction and rejected Abbas' calls to open peace talks with Israel and honor previous Palestinian-Israeli deals. Enditem