Palestinian minister: no 'miracles' expected at talks on unified government

Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki said on Wednesday he did not expect "miracles" at talks in Moscow to discuss the formation of a unified Palestinian government and the rebuilding of Gaza.

The talks between representatives of Hamas and the Fatah political faction, scheduled to take place in the Russian capital on Thursday, come days after Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh resigned.

The shake-up, Maliki said, was designed to build support for an expanded role for the Palestinian Authority following Israel's war against the Islamist group Hamas in Gaza.

"We hope that there we might be good results in terms of mutual understanding between all factions about the need to support such a technocratic government that will emerge," Maliki said of the talks.

"Of course, we don't expect miracles to happen in just a simple meeting in Moscow, but I believe that the meeting in Moscow should be followed by other meetings in the region soon."

The Palestinian Authority, created about 30 years ago as part of the interim Oslo peace accords, has been undermined by accusations of ineffectiveness and the prime minister holding little effective power.

Shtayyeh's resignation marks a symbolic shift that underlines President Mahmoud Abbas' desire to ensure the Authority maintains its claim to leadership as international pressure grows for a revival of efforts to create a Palestinian state.

Maliki, who was speaking on the sidelines of the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva, said the government's resignation had been designed to prevent international partners from saying the Authority was not collaborating.

"We want to show our readiness... to engage and to be ready, just to not to be seen as an obstacle between the implementation of any process that should take further," he said.

Maliki also accused the United Nations Security Council of "failing" the Palestinian people in its inability to agree on a ceasefire, echoing comments by U.N. chief Antonio Guterres who said the body's authority had "perhaps fatally" been undermined by its lack of unity on the issue.

"Now in Gaza, it seems that the ceasefire is a farfetched objective to be attained," Maliki said. "As a result, we see people dying."