Abbas says he still has hope for unity government

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Sunday that he remained hopeful a Palestinian unity government could still be formed with his rivals in the Islamic militant Hamas group, despite the collapse of negotiations. Abbas said last week that efforts to form a coalition government, seen as necessary to ending crippling economic sanctions on the Hamas-led government, had reached a dead end. "The efforts at present have stopped," Abbas said Sunday. "But we must preserve hope." Abbas said Sunday that any delay in creating the government and ending the sanctions will worsen the Palestinian's economic situation.