Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad will chair the first meeting of his new cabinet in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Wednesday.

Fayyad's government was sworn in on Tuesday amid official boycotting by president Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party. Fayyad excluded the second largest group, Islamic Hamas movement, from participating in his administration.

The new government will discuss its work plan for the coming period and will outline its priorities, sources said in Ramallah.

Fayyad said earlier that his government, a reshuffle and expansion of his former cabinet, will quit as soon as Hamas and Abbas' Fatah movement reach a reconciliation agreement to form a unity government.

Abbas first asked Fayyad to form a caretaker government in June 2007 after Hamas routed pro-Abbas forces and ousted his Fatah movement in deadly clashes in the Gaza Strip.

Abbas asked Fayyad to expand the government after he was convinced that the Egyptian-brokered talks will take a long time until coming out with a national Palestinian accord, analysts said.