Hamas has rejected a demand by the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) to change its programme of government, branding the call "illegal".
"This decision is unacceptable and illegal... The PLC (Palestinian parliament) is the only authority" which can decide on the programme of government, Sami Abu Zuhri, spokesman for the Islamist resistance movement, said on Wednesday.
The PLO had called on Hamas to alter its programme of government which fails to recognise the supremacy of the organisation.
Hamas is poised to form the next Palestinian cabinet after its landslide parliamentary election victory two months ago but its lineup must first win the approval of Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Authority president and chairman of the PLO.
al Jazeera