GAZA CITY, 15 February 2007 — Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas has delayed a speech he was due to give today ahead of asking Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas to form a new government of national unity, his spokesman said yesterday.

“The speech has been delayed to an as yet unfixed date,” Abbas’ spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina told AFP, without being able to say whether the entire nomination process would be delayed.

Abbas had been due to give a televised speech at midday today before asking Haniyeh to form the new government after a landmark power-sharing deal was signed in the holy city of Makkah.

“We respect the Makkah Declaration to the letter and reject any changes or new conditions. All parties are called upon to fully respect the agreement and avoid placing conditions on it,” Abu Rudeina added, without elaborating.

A Palestinian source said the delay was because of a disagreement between Abbas and Haniyeh after the Islamist demanded certain officials from his current government stay on and that the key Interior Ministry go to Hamas.

Under the Makkah deal, the Interior Ministry which controls most of the security forces is to go to an independent.

Disagreements also emerged, the source said, on sharing out portfolios between Fatah and Hamas.

Earlier, Olmert had raised the possibility of renewing Palestinian peace talks in the run-up to the summit and the creation of a new Palestinian government.

He raised the idea — provided the Palestinians meet key conditions — at a meeting with top ministers and intelligence chiefs late Tuesday, the country’s top-selling Yediot Aharonot newspaper reported yesterday.

“The agreement on the establishment of a unity government in the PA (Palestinian Authority) places the region at a juncture of a strategic decision of enormous significance, no less dramatic than what happened after Hamas’ victory in the PA elections a year ago,” Yediot quoted Olmert as saying.

Next Monday, Abbas, Olmert and Rice are to hold a summit, say Western diplomats in Jerusalem, which the Americans have billed as the start of a major shift in US efforts to broker a peace deal.

The summit would discuss the “political horizon” of possible future talks which could lead to the creation of a Palestinian state side by side with Israel, an Israeli government official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

“The hope is that they will be able to discuss the political horizon of possible future negotiations within the parameters of the road map and the possibilities that they could lead to the vision of two states.” The Palestinian accord makes no explicit reference to Israel or to respecting interim peace deals signed by the Palestine Liberation Organization.

— With input from agencies