Palestinian unity talks 'dead'

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas told the PLO’s top decision-making body today that unity government talks with Hamas were dead and he blamed the radical Islamic group for their collapse, participants in the meeting said.

“President Abbas stressed that there would be no dialogue with Hamas. He said the dialogue ended and that Hamas bears the responsibility for the failure of the talks,” said Tayseer Khaled, a member of the PLO Executive Committee.