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Ramallah, West Bank: Hamas took over as the dominant party in the Palestinian parliament on Saturday and swiftly rejected President Mahmoud Abbas's call to pursue his peacemaking efforts with Israel.
The swearing-in of the parliament, elected last month, paves the way for Hamas to form a government that is on a potential collision course with Abbas and faces a boycott by major powers unless it renounces violence and its vow to destroy Israel.
Israel is considering tougher restrictions on Palestinians to apply pressure on Hamas. Senior Israeli sources said that if a new government did not recognise Israel, halt violence and accept peace accords, it would be seen as a "hostile entity".
Abbas is set to travel to Gaza on Sunday where he will meet Hamas party leader Mahmoud Al Zahar for talks on forming the new government.
Al Zahar is set to officially propose Esmail Haniyeh for the position of prime minister.
In a speech at the opening of parliament, Abbas said the new government must recognise past peace deals with Israel and commit itself to pursuing statehood through talks.
?The presidency and the government will continue to respect our commitment to the negotiations as a strategic, pragmatic political choice," Abbas said.
"At the same time, we must continue to strengthen and develop forms of popular resistance of a peaceful nature."
Abbas's words won applause from Fatah lawmakers but not from Hamas members.
"We were elected on a different political agenda," Haniyeh said as sessions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, joined by video link, broke off for Muslim prayers.
One newly elected Hamas lawmaker prayed on the floor of the building in Gaza.
Hamas won control of the Palestinian Legislative Council in a January 25 parliamentary election, beating Abbas's long-dominant Fatah which is widely accused of corruption and mismanagement. Hamas won 74 seats in the 132-member parliament.
New parliament speaker Aziz Dweik asked Muslim countries to continue their financial and political support and demanded the international community "respect the democratic choice of the Palestinian people".
Signalling friction ahead, Dweik said parliament would in its next session on February 27 "discuss the degree of legality" of laws passed by the outgoing legislature in an emergency session that gave Abbas extra powers over parliament.
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