Hamas call for Palestinian unity

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Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniya of the ruling Palestinian movement Hamas has urged national unity after weeks of deadly feuding.

He went on TV to say that Palestinian infighting, which has claimed about 30 lives, was utterly unacceptable.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who leads the rival Fatah party, made a similar appeal two days ago.

Meanwhile, government workers called off a strike over unpaid wages, saying they had been assured of payment.

Mr Haniya called on the Arab League to implement its promise to break the Western- and Israeli-led economic embargo, which has prevented the government from paying its employees' wages.

Atmosphere eases

The two men's speeches come after a savage war of words between Hamas and Fatah, BBC Gaza correspondent Alan Johnston says.

Mr Haniya again and again called for national unity and talked of the need to renew the effort to form a new government that would draw Hamas and Fatah into a coalition.

He accused Israel and America of seeking to foment civil war in the Palestinian territories.

However, the violence on the streets of Gaza has very much ebbed away this week and Mr Haniya's address has added to a sense that both factions are now keen to talk rather than fight, our correspondent says.

That mood has been bolstered by news that the long-running, highly political strike by civil servants is over.

Fatah had backed the action by government workers who were angry that they were being paid only a fraction of their wages.

The Hamas-controlled government has simply been unable to pay salaries properly on account of the economic embargo.

But the civil servants say that they have now received assurances that payments will be made, thanks partly at least to funds coming from Arab countries.