RAMALLAH, West Bank, Feb. 18 (UPI) -- Palestinian leaders on the West Bank are urging the international community to give their "national unity" agreement a chance.
As U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice prepared to meet with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas in Jerusalem, members of the Hamas-led coalition told the Jerusalem Post they hoped Abbas would convince Rice not to make a "hasty decision" regarding their agreement with Fatah.
"If the Americans are serious about advancing the peace process, then they must give the new government a chance," Nabil Abu Rudaineh, a spokesman for Abbas, told the Jerusalem Post.
Sources close to Abbas told the newspaper there was fear that if the United States boycotts the new coalition, European nations would follow.
"Our message to the world is that the new unity government will represent all Palestinian factions and is the fruit of national accord," Hamas official Yasser Abed Rabbo told the newspaper. "Therefore, it should be given the chance it deserves."
