Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - A key Palestine Liberation Organization body was set to hold talks on Saturday over a Palestinian reconciliation deal with Hamas, following Israel pulling out of the peace negotiations.

The meeting, held at the PLO's Central Council at its West Bank headquarters in Ramallah, was to start at 0800 GMT and continue on Sunday when president Mahmoud Abbas is meant to give a major address.

The council called the meeting over the crisis in the U.S. brokered negotiations, but will also discuss the unity deal with the Hamas movement.

Hamas and the Fatah-led PLO settled in their agreement to establish a "national consensus" government under Abbas within weeks.

Israel suspended the peace talks because of the potential deal, stating it would not deal with a Palestinian government backed by Hamas, an Islamist movement ruling Gaza that has pledged destruction of the Jewish state.

The faltering peace talks, which have gone beyond their April 29 deadline, hit another wall last month after Israel refused to release the final back of Palestinian prisoners.

In response, the Palestinians listed conditions for extending the peace talks which included freezing of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and annexed east Jerusalem and freeing the prisoners.

Israel dismissed the conditions.

On Friday, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said US efforts to broker a peace deal had not failed, but were currently in a "holding period" as Palestinians and Israelis decide their next move.

She noted Abbas had insisted that any government formed with Hamas backing would "represent his policies, and that includes recognition of Israel, commitment to non-violence, adherence to prior agreements and commitment to peaceful negotiations toward a two-state solution."


*Agencies