RAMALLAH, West Bank: Most Palestinians support efforts to forge a unity government as the way to heal an internal rift that has hurt the chances of achieving a peace deal with Israel, an opinion poll published yesterday showed.

A survey by Birzeit University, based near the West Bank city of Ramallah, found 58 percent of Palestinians thought a joint coalition of the Western-backed Fatah movement and Hamas Islamists could best resolve their crisis.

Egyptian-sponsored talks between the factions, whose rift broke into open conflict in 2007 when Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip, were scheduled to resume in July after months of unsuccessful sessions, the latest of which was held on May 18.

A unity government could help overcome the crippling effect of a Western economic boycott of Hamas for its refusal to recognize Israel. The West backs Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas who supports dialogue with the Jewish state.

The poll, for which 6,398 people were questioned in early April, gave a breakdown of opinion for those in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and those living in Gaza — unusual in polls of Palestinians.

It showed that contrary to past polls, more than 37 percent of Palestinians in Hamas-ruled Gaza would vote for Abbas’ Fatah movement if a new parliamentary election were held, and just 23 percent would choose Hamas.

Abbas arrived in Washington late Tuesday for his first official meeting with President Barack Obama expected to focus on Israel’s continued building of settlements in occupied territory. Abbas’ US visit followed a two-day trip to Canada during which he met with Prime Minister Stephen Harper about the stalled Middle East peace process.

The Palestinian authority has ruled out restarting peace talks with Israel unless it removes all roadblocks and freezes settlement activity in the occupied West Bank, top negotiator Ahmad Qorei told the Ha’aretz daily.

He said Abbas would present the conditions during the White House talks with Obama today. The discussions come just 10 days after Obama met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has ignored calls from the United States for a complete freeze on settlement building in the occupied West Bank and rejected limits on building Jewish enclaves in Jerusalem.

Netanyahu yesterday urged Arab countries to make immediate moves toward normalizing ties with Israel and said he would offer “concrete” steps toward peace with the Palestinians. Netanyahu made the plea during a debate in Parliament that came as he tries to balance international pressure to make concessions to the Palestinians with internal calls from within his hard-line coalition not to budge.

Netanyahu said he is willing to make “concrete” steps toward peace with the Palestinians. He did not specify what those steps would be and said any progress would depend on the Palestinians’ ability to respond. “We expect the Palestinians to make such concrete steps as well. And it would be good if Arab countries joined the peace effort and made concrete and symbolic steps toward normalization with Israel, not later, but now,” Netanyahu said.

However, Netanyahu canceled a meeting with French President Nicholas Sarkozy scheduled for next week, reportedly amid anger at France for its position on the final status of Jerusalem, the daily Jerusalem Post reported yesterday.

The Prime Minister’s Office confirmed that Netanyahu postponed his European trip because he believed preparations for the visit were incomplete. The report quoted the French Foreign Ministry spokesman Frederic Desagneaux as saying that “the declaration which the Israeli prime minister issued yesterday derives from prejudice regarding the final status agreement,” referring to Netanyahu’s pledge on Jerusalem Day, last week, that Jerusalem would “never again be divided or partitioned.”