US Secretary of State John Kerry will meet Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in Istanbul on Sunday, the State Department said, as a US-led peace push focusing on the Palestinian economy steps up. Kerry and Abbas, who have met several times recently, will "continue the conversation that they've been having for several weeks now about how to get both sides back to the table," a State Department official said.

Leaders of Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas met in Qatar on Friday amid renewed impetus for a unity government after the resignation of prime minister Salam Fayyad, a Palestinian official told AFP. Newly re-elected Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal chaired the meeting in his base in exile in Qatar, which was also attended by Hamas leaders from Gaza including its prime minister Ismail Haniya.

Israeli President Shimon Peres on Thursday pardoned a Palestinian prisoner who had carried out two long-term hunger strikes, citing concerns over his health, his office said. "Peres accepted the recommendation of the Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, in coordination with the security services, and signed the release of Mohammed Kamal al-Taj," a statement said. "The decision to release him was taken on humanitarian grounds as the prisoner was ill with a serious medical condition," it added. Taj had served almost 10 years of a 14-year sentence, the president's office said.

Israel has refused to grant permission to 26 runners from the Gaza Strip to travel to the West Bank to run in the first Bethlehem marathon on April 21, officials said on Thursday. The race, which begins at the Nativity Church, is the first event of its kind in the West Bank with more than 400 people registered to run, half of whom are Palestinians, organisers say.