Today, the head of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), Mahmoud Abbas, is meeting with US President George W. Bush on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York; negotiations are also planned with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni. The main topic is the creation of a new Palestinian government of national unity. The United States and Israel say they will not deal with it unless it recognizes Israel and previous Palestinian-Israeli agreements.
Yesterday, the office of the head of the PNA reported that Abbas had frozen the creation of a coalition cabinet involving the radical Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and the moderate Palestine Liberation Movement (Fatah), as Hamas refuses to recognize the PNA peace agreements with Israel. Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority and one of the leaders of Hamas, Ismail Hanniyeh, said that dialogue with Abbas would resume after his return from the United States.
