The Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) has called for the resignation of Prime Minister Ismail Haneya amid continuing wrangling between his Hamas movement and the more moderate Fatah over forming a government of national unity.
The PLO executive issued a statement on Friday asking Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to take steps to dismiss Haneya and begin the process of nominating a successor.
It accused Haneya's Hamas movement of blocking the formation of a national unity government for its own ends.
Abbas had declared Thursday that the efforts of his Fatah to form such a government with Hamas had reached a dead end.
Speaking at a joint news conference with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Jericho in West Bank, he said that while "a unity government is a very important goal for us", the talks had reached a "deadlock".