Lawmakers of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah party decided on Saturday to reject an invitation to join a governing coalition led by the Islamist militant group Hamas, party officials said.
Hamas, which swept to a surprise victory in January 25 parliamentary elections, has been asked to form a government which it expects to achieve later this month.
Fatah legislators met on Saturday to decide on Hamas's invitation to join their government, and drew up a recommendation to the party's council "to decide not to take part in the government", officials said.
The officials said Fatah's 134-member revolutionary council would likely approve the recommendation as early as Sunday, possibly complicating Hamas's efforts to fulfil its goal of forming a broad-based cabinet.
Hamas, whose charter vows to destroy Israel, risks losing critical foreign aid to the Palestinian Authority from the United States and European Union unless the group disarmed and recognised the Jewish state.
Officials from Hamas have said they will not compromise their principles for aid and that alternative funding could come from Arab and Islamic countries.
Among three reasons cited by Fatah for opposing being part of such a government was Hamas's failure to recognise past peace agreements with Israel. The lawmakers also said that the once dominant party needs time to rebuild after the electoral defeat.
Hamas officials on a visit to Moscow said that while they preferred a partnership with Fatah, their 74 seats in the 132-member legislature, plus the guaranteed backing of four independent lawmakers, could suffice even without Fatah.
"I believe a Fatah partnership with us is in the interests of Fatah", Hamas leader Mr Khaled Meshaal said in Moscow. Another Hamas official said Hamas would seek support from other, smaller factions if Fatah doesn't join.