RAMALLAH, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement said on Thursday it has asked the announcement of the new government to be delayed until a dialogue between Fatah and its bitter rival Hamas.

    Azzam al-Ahamd, a Fatah official, said the postponement was made in order to prevent the formation of the government "from negatively reflecting on the process of the national dialogue" which will bring Hamas and Fatah together on Saturday in Cairo.

    "We were afraid that Hamas would use the new government as a pretext to gamble the dialogue," al-Ahmad said.

    Abbas requested his Prime Minister Salam Fayyad to reshuffle his West Bank-based caretaker government and expand it. The new government had been expected to be sworn in on Tuesday, but was finally delayed.

    Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, considered the formation of such a government as sabotaging the talks with Fatah to form a unity government.

    Hamas said the new government means an early death announcement of the unity dialogue, the previous rounds of which failed in making Hamas and Fatah agreeing on a unity government since it was launched in March.

    Earlier, sources said that Fatah blocked the announcement of the new government since the prime minister would be Fayyad who is not a Fatah member.

    But Fayyad said his West Bank-based government will quit as soon as the Cairo dialogue succeeds in forming a unity government that would rule both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

Special Report: Palestine-Israel Conflicts