GAZA, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haneya underscored Sunday the significance of forming a Palestinian national-unity government.

    "We assert the firm attitude of our understandings with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas over forming a national coalition cabinet," Haneya told a news conference in Gaza City.

    He clarified that the understandings with Abbas also included "ending the Israeli occupation, releasing all the Palestinian prisoners, establishing a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital and protecting the Palestinian unity."

    "We are committed to this and when I talked about the cabinet I didn't talk about any conditions but about the criteria of a Palestinian national coalition cabinet," Haneya added. On Friday, a day after Abbas and Haneya agreed on opening talks about the coalition cabinet, Haneya outlined three conditions ahead of forming a coalition government.

    The conditions include the release of Hamas ministers and lawmakers by Israel, lifting the siege against the Hamas-led government and commissioning major portfolios of the coalition government to Hamas including the prime minister post.

    Meanwhile, Haneya pledged to protect the Palestinian territories, the Islamic sacred sites and the Aqsa mosque, saying "we are committed before God and before our people to protect the Palestinian territories, the Islamic sacred sites and the Aqsamosque."

    Hamas, which overwhelmingly won the January legislative elections, failed to form a national coalition government and had alone formed the current Hamas-led cabinet in late March. Enditem