Hamas failed in a bid on Sunday to convene the Palestinian parliament to challenge the legality of the government just installed by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to replace a Hamas-led administration.

The session was not able to start because a quorum could not be assembled. Hamas lawmakers said just 28 of 132 legislators turned up for the session, held jointly in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. Hamas needed at least 67 for a quorum. Fatah boycotted the session, calling it illegal.

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In lieu of the session, Hamas lawmakers held an informal "consultative" meeting over the steps taken by Abbas. Acting speaker Ahmed Bahar, a Hamas leader in Gaza, used his mobile phone to contact lawmakers in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

Hamas accused Fatah, the secular faction led by Abbas, of closing down a meeting room in Ramallah to prevent the lawmakers from using a video link that normally connects the two chambers.

Hamas won a majority of the seats in parliament in a January 2006 election, but Israel has arrested about half the group's 74 legislators and it can no longer assemble a majority.

Last week, Hamas boycotted a parliamentary session called by Abbas, saying that session was illegal and would have been used by Fatah to take over leadership posts now held by Hamas. "We are here to send a clear message that the parliament must not be undermined. No one must undermine the Palestinian Basic Law," Bahar said, referring to the interim constitution.

Abbas disbanded the Hamas-led government and formed an emergency administration after the Islamist group seized the Gaza Strip by force on June 14. Since then, he has ruled by decree.

Responding to constitutional limits on the state of emergency, Abbas on Friday swore in three new ministers and reappointed Salam Fayad as prime minister. Abbas's aides say his actions were in keeping with the Basic Law.

Hamas rejected Fayad's enlarged cabinet. "I hold Fatah and the president personally responsible for
trying to put the parliament to death, with the help of the Zionist enemy who is keeping over 40 brothers in jail," said senior Hamas lawmaker Youssef al-Shrafi.

Shrafi said the only way out of the current impasse was through dialogue between Hamas and Fatah.

The main authors of the Basic Law said last week that Abbas was overstepping his authority and was required to obtain parliamentary approval to keep in place the government he set up
under Fayad.

Fatah says no such approval is needed so long as parliament is paralysed.

Poll shows Hamas is losing support in Gaza
The violent takeover of the Gaza Strip has cost the Islamic Hamas some support there and bolstered its rival, Fatah, according to a poll released Sunday.

Hamas swept through Gaza last month, vanquishing numerically superior forces aligned with Fatah of moderate Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, who responded by dismissing the Hamas-led government and installing a new one with his backers.

The poll of Gaza residents shows a backlash. Hamas got only 23 percent support, down from 29 percent in the previous survey last month, while Fatah climbed from 31 percent to 43 percent.

The poll, the first major survey since the Hamas takeover, also showed that 66 percent of Hamas supporters said they would vote Fatah if it undertook reforms.

The poll, released by Near East Consulting, interviewed 450 residents of the Gaza Strip. It quoted a margin of error of 3.05 percentage points.

I was surprised, said Jamil Rabah, head of Near East Consulting. Rabah said price hikes and food shortages along with a perception that Hamas was becoming increasingly authoritarian, contributed to its fall in support.

Trust in the Gaza-based deposed Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas stood at 37 percent, compared to 63 percent for Abbas. Prime Minister Salam Fayad got higher trust marks than Haniyeh, 62-38 percent.

"A lot of people answering this question said we like Haniyeh more, but we want people who can really deliver," Rabah said, adding "People are becoming more realistic."