The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) said on Wednesday that any government that Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas forms would be illegitimate.

"Any government that Ramallah forms would be illegal even if the entire world recognized it," said Salah al-Bardaweel, a spokesman for Hamas lawmakers.

The current government of the West Bank, led by Salam Fayyad, "has exceeded the law and the Palestinian rights," al-Bardaweel justified.

His remarks followed statements by Abbas that Fayyad's government, which was resigned a few weeks ago, "will return soon with some additions." Abbas, who spoke in Cairo, said this government will not affect the inter-Palestinian dialogue which Cairo sponsors.

Al-Bardaweel slammed the move as a unilateral "and it means that Abbas's Fatah movement and Ramallah refuse the dialogue and insist on their way against the Palestinian people."

The dialogue aims at reconciling Hamas and Fatah on a unity government replacing Fayyad's government and Hamas's administration of the Gaza Strip.

The two feuding Palestinian administrations came into being in June 2007 after Hamas, which won the parliamentary elections a year earlier, routed pro-Abbas forces and seized control of the Gaza Strip.

In the Cairo-hosted dialogue, which started in March, the Palestinian factions failed to agree on a unity government but agreed on holding presidential and parliamentary elections by January 2010.

They will meet again in Cairo from May 16 to 19. If no agreement was reached, Abbas's government is expected to be announced after that date.