Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haneya renewed on Sunday his rejection to the Arab peace initiative of 2002, saying it includes recognition of the Jewish state.

"The problem with the Arab peace initiative is that it includes recognition of the state of Israel, the thing that the Palestinian government rejects," Haneya told a group of academics and politicians in Gaza.

The annual Arab Summit, which convened in Beirut in March 2002,came up with a peace initiative to resolve the Israeli-Arab conflict, including the establishment of a Palestinian state on the territories occupied by Israel in 1967.

Haneya said he had agreed with President Mahmoud Abbas to keep the clause related to recognizing the Arab peace initiative in the document of national accordance under debates between the president and the premier.

The document, architected and drafted by leaders of prisoners in Israeli jails, had implicitly recognized the two-state solution, without saying or hinting to the recognition of Israel.

Haneya also said he agreed with President Abbas that the prime minister of the coming national unity government "must be from Islamic Hamas movement, since Hamas enjoys a parliamentary majority."

Haneya slammed President Abbas for not inviting his cabinet ministers in the West Bank city of Ramallah to the high-ranking meetings Abbas holds at his Ramallah headquarters.

He also revealed that many Palestinian diplomats, who head the Palestinian diplomatic representations in many world capitals, "refuse to deal with the current Minister of Foreign Affairs Mahmoud al-Zahar."

Haneya also slammed the United States, saying "it interferes in our internal affairs, which would negatively affect our national unity."

(Xinhua News Agency October 9, 2006)