Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh appealed today to the United States and other Middle East mediators to restore economic aid to the Palestinian Authority in response to a Hamas-Fatah unity deal.
"Today there is a cautious, pessimistic US position toward this agreement," Haniyeh, a Hamas leader, said in a speech.
"I say to the Quartet and to the European Union that this is the will of the Palestinian people, and they should respect it and they should work to end the status of siege," he said.
The Quartet of Middle East mediators - the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations - cut off direct funding of the Palestinian Authority after Hamas came to power last year.
Hamas, an Islamist movement, has rejected the group's conditions for restoring aid: recognition of Israel, renunciation of violence and acceptance of existing interim peace agreements.
The unity agreement Hamas signed with the long-dominant Fatah faction in Saudi Arabia last Thursday made no explicit commitment to recognize the Jewish state.
A letter from moderate President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah reappointing Haniyeh as prime minister contained a vague call to the movement to "abide by the interests of the Palestinian people" and "respect" past agreements and international law.
"In a meeting soon with President (Abbas), when he visits Gaza, we will resume the dialogue to conclude all the remaining issues so we can finalize details of a unity government," Haniyeh said in the speech, describing the deal as historic.
Haniyeh said Hamas would hold nine cabinet posts, with six going to Fatah. An independent candidate, whom he did not name, would become interior minister, a position that oversees security services.
He said the unity agreement reflected a desire by Hamas and Fatah to end factional warfare that killed more than 90 Palestinians between late December and early February.
In Jerusalem, Israeli officials said earlier that Israel was considering suspending contacts with Abbas if the unity government did not meet the international demands.
The move could increase pressure on Abbas but hinder US efforts to revive long-stalled peace talks. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice plans a three-way summit with Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in Jerusalem on February 19.