Special report: Internal situation in Palestine

    GAZA, Jan. 14 (Xinhua) -- Forming a national unity government will end all forms of internal fighting, spokesman for the Hamas-led Palestinian government Ghazi Hamad said on Sunday.

    An agreement on a unity government and its program can end all the suffering of the Palestinian people and "put the train back on its track," Hamad said.

    He also praised President Mahmoud Abbas "who insisted on forming a unity government in spite of American pressure exerted by (U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza) Rice."

    Abbas had a two-hour meeting with Rice in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Sunday.

    During a joint press conference with Rice following their meeting, Abbas said that the Palestinians reject temporary borders with Israel.

    Hamad criticized Rice's visit, saying "the aim of this visit is to impose temporary and transitional solutions on the Palestinians to force them to accept statehood without clear authorities or sovereignty."

    The spokesman also slammed the United States for ignoring the Hamas-led government and the ruling Hamas movement.

    "Hamas became a big player in the arena, so it must be one of decision-makers ... the United States does not understand the Palestinian diplomacy rightly," he said.

    Meanwhile, Saeb Erekat, chief Palestinian negotiator and a Fatah member, said "the people of the region became weary of hearing about Palestinian statehood without seeing this occurring on the ground."

    Erekat called for setting a timetable and mechanism to implement initiatives that call for the creation of a Palestinian statehood.