Report: U.S. to boycott Fatah ministers

The United States will boycott all members of the Palestinian Authority’s new coalition government, P.A. officials said. Reuters quoted a senior P.A. official and foreign diplomats as saying Thursday that Washington will not talk to members of Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah faction who join the Hamas-led Cabinet as part of a recent national unity deal signed in Saudi Arabia. But the boycott is unlikely to affect U.S. relations with P.A. President Abbas. U.S. officials had no immediate comment on the report. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will oversee a peace summit next week between Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.