Uproar at Palestinian parliament

The uproar dimmed hopes the two parties might join forces in a national unity coalition, after the militant Hamas group won elections on 25 January.

It began when Hamas MPs reversed 11th-hour decisions made by the previous Fatah-led parliament.

Fatah deputies walked out, protesting the legislation could not be changed.

"I am announcing that the Fatah members are withdrawing from the parliament and we will not return until all these differences have been resolved," said Azzam al-Ahmed, the head of the Fatah deputies, said in the West Bank town of Ramallah.

"We have tried through dialogue and contacts with Hamas to resolve this issue before, but they are insisting on domination," the Reuters news agency quoted him saying.

Heated debates

The new parliament, with 74 Hamas MPs to Fatah's 45, was sworn in last month.

The last session with a Fatah majority on 13 February - more than two weeks after the election - voted in a number of measures seen to be curbing the parliament's authority.

These included setting up a constitutional court, whose members would be picked by Palestinian Authority president and Fatah leader Mahmud Abbas.

Fatah's representatives insisted Hamas had no right to overturn their decisions, leading to heated exchanges in which Hamas speaker Aziz al-Duwaik repeatedly called Mr al-Ahmed to order.

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