Abbas: Coalition talks with Hamas have broken down

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas today said that talks with the ruling Hamas militant group on forming a more moderate coalition government had broken down.

In Ramallah, West Bank, Abbas also said a new Cabinet must be formed to end a recent surge in violence that claimed 10 lives in three days.

“There is no dialogue now,” Abbas said at a news conference with Bahraini Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid Bin Ahmed Al-Khalifa.

A preliminary coalition agreement announced on September 11 “is over now, and we have to start from square one,” he said.