The announcement of the Quartet (the U.S., the European Union, the United Nations and Russia) caught the Palestinians by surprise. For those among them who support the idea of a national unity government, such as the Hamas leadership and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, the Quartet's vague statement came as a pleasant surprise. On the other hand, Fatah and the Palestine Liberation Organization leadership, which opposed a government of national unity, were disappointed by the softened stance.

"The Quartet welcomes the efforts of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to form a government of national unity, in the hope that the platform of such a government would reflect Quartet principles and allow for early engagement," the statement read.

Yasser Abed Rabbo and Saeb Erakat, members of the PLO Central Committee are opposed to the government of national unity. So is Khaled Meshal, head of the Hamas political office based in Damascus.

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Among the Palestinians, there is recognition that the international community, and even the Bush administration, do not automatically reject a national unity Palestinian government. Until it becomes clear whether this is part of a new policy in Washington or not, the general feeling in the Palestinian Authority is that Abbas' path toward a government of national unity is all but guaranteed. The Quartet is not demanding that the new government recognize Israel, and Hamas is not even being asked to recognize the Arab League peace initiative. When the Hamas government was elected in February, the Quartet conditioned recognition and aid on three criteria: that Hamas renounce violence, recognize Israel and accept PLO-Israel agreements to date. As part of the talks for a unity government, Hamas had originally hinted that it would accept the Arab League initiative, which offered recognition of Israel in return for a pullout to the 1967 lines and a solution of the refugee problem.

Palestinian sources say that the EU has let the Palestinians know that they are mainly asking Hamas to keep their mouths shut at this time. If Abbas and Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh do reach an agreement on a unity government, along lines published in the press, Hamas is being asked not to undermine it with statements such as "we will never recognize Israel." Under such circumstances the EU would consider renewing ties with the Palestinian government headed by Haniyeh.

Haniyeh's political adviser, Ahmed Youssef, told Haaretz, that the U.S. government is not interested in a confrontation with the European Union, and claimed that with the exception of Britain and Germany, all EU states, agreed to give the idea of a unity government a chance.

It could be that the Europeans are concerned that in the absence of a unity government, the Palestinian Authority will collapse, possibly sparking a civil war.

In Israel's security circles there have been assessments this week that a failure in the Abbas-Haniyeh talks would result in serious escalation of the violence against Israel. In view of this possibility, a unity government under Haniyeh, with the inclusion of Fatah, appears to be the best of several bad options.

Meanwhile, acts of violence and murder in the Gaza Strip are increasing. In recent months more than 10 members of the security forces belonging to Fatah have been killed, five of them at a distance of 15 meters from Haniyeh's official residence in Gaza.

The Fatah-related security groups say they know who the perpetrators are - all Hamas gunmen --but one has been arrested. The conclusion inside Fatah is that the Hamas military wing, which is controlled by Khaled Meshal in Damascus, is not interested in a unity government but in a confrontation.