Jerusalem - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas telephoned new Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Sunday, and urged him to work with the Palestinian Authority in search of peace. A statement issued by Netanyahu's office said the Palestinian leader had called the premier to congratulate him on the occasion of the Passover holiday.

Netanyahu, the statement said, told Abbas he intended resuming the cooperation they had in the past.

Netanyahu, leader of the hawkish Likud Party, was sworn in as premier on March 31.

Gaza  - Leaders of the rival Hamas and Fatah movements held a meeting in Hamas-ruled Gaza on Wednesday to discuss reconstruction of the Gaza Strip and mutual reconciliation.

The meeting between the two movements' leaders is the first of its kind since Hamas's takeover of the Gaza Strip in the summer of 2007 following weeks of bloodshed between the two groups' warring militants.

Four Fatah leaders, headed by Abdallah el-Ifranji arrived at the office of Hamas spokesman in Gaza Ayman Taha to hold talks with four Hamas leaders headed by senior Hamas leader Salah el-Bardawil.

Baghdad - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas arrived in Iraq in an unannounced visit on Sunday, in the first visit of a Palestinian official since the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, an Iraqi official source told German Press Agency dpa.

Abbas had been scheduled to visit Iraq on March 28, but his visit was canceled for an undisclosed reason.

The source, who asked not to be named, said that Abbas is scheduled to meet with Iraqi president Jalal Talabani and a number of other officials.

Gaza - Hamas authorities in the Gaza Strip will begin removing the debris and rubble from December-January's 22-day conflict with Israel next week, the movement's public works minister said on Saturday.

"Next week will witness the beginning of removal of the debris of the houses that were demolished during the aggression," said Yousef al-Manssi, Hamas' public works minister. "The government will rebuild the houses with new designs."

"The government opens the door for anyone who wants to help," he added.

Gaza/Cairo  - Rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas on Thursday suspended talks in Cairo without an agreement on a "national unity" government, representatives from the factions said.

Fatah, which controls the West Bank, and Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, for the third time failed to agree on the political platform for the interim government, control of Palestinian security forces, or the conduct of elections to replace the interim government.

Gaza City/Cairo  - As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu formally took office at the helm of a government dominated by hardline parties on Wednesday, delegates from 13 Palestinian factions resumed talks on forming a "national unity" government in Cairo.

In this, the third round of Egyptian-brokered Palestinian talks, negotiators will try to hash out the political platform of the national unity government, lay out preparations for presidential and legislative elections and determine the composition and control of Palestinian security forces, representatives from Fatah and Hamas said.