The Palestinian Islamic Hamas movement is studying a proposal by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas calling for forming a Palestinian unity government, sources said on Monday.

"The proposal was put forward to Hamas officials in West Bank last week," the sources told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. The offer has reached Hamas' leaders in the Gaza Strip.

The sources refused to speak in details about the proposal which Hamas leaders have been studying since it was received, but stressed that it calls for forming a unity government of different figures, including five Hamas members.

"Those five ministers would be committed to the Palestine Liberation Organization's (PLO) position and would accept international conditions," the sources said.

The international Quartet, led by the United States, said it doesn't recognize any Palestinian government comprising Hamas unless the Islamic movement recognizes Israel, renounces violence and accepts peace deals.

Hamas rejects all these conditions though its chief Khaled Mashaal has announced that it accepts a Palestinian statehood alongside the Jewish one.

The five Hamas ministers will join the government on their personal capacity to overcome a possible difference over the government's platform, according to the sources.

The unity government would stay in office until holding presidential and parliamentary elections by January 2010.

Abbas's offer was aimed at pushing Hamas-Fatah reconciliation talks forward. Another round of the talks is going to take place in Cairo on July 25.

Egypt has been sponsoring the dialogue between Hamas and Fatah to reconcile them and end the aftermaths of Hamas' 2007 violent takeover of Gaza.

(Xinhua News Agency July 7, 2009)