By Nadim Ladki BEIRUT, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Arabs called on Fatah and Hamas on Friday to abide by a Saudi-brokered deal to form a Palestinian unity government and urged the international community to lift crippling economic sanctions. The deal, signed by the rival factions in Mecca on Thursday, showed Saudi Arabia's diplomatic clout and raised hopes that Saudi mediation could ease a separate crisis in Lebanon. Hamas and Fatah signed a coalition agreement to end factional warfare and to try to win back Western aid halted because of Hamas's refusal to recognise Israel. Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa called on the quartet of Middle East mediators to take the Palestinian agreement into consideration "and to consequently lift the embargo", the League said in a statement. U.S. ally Egypt, which has been involved in mediation attempts between Fatah and Hamas, also welcomed the agreement. Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit called it "a big step in the right direction" and "expressed his hope that this deal will be a step towards lifting the embargo imposed on the Palestinian people to alleviate its suffering", a ministry statement said. A senior Bahraini foreign ministry official said the Gulf state hoped the agreement would end Palestinian infighting. "We call upon the international community to support and cooperate with this agreement and this national unity government and to help the Palestinian people to overcome this crisis and to lift the imposed blockade," the state news agency quoted the official as saying. SAUDI DIPLOMACY Other Arab politicians said the deal would not be welcomed by everyone. "I hope Western countries will realise the importance of the Mecca agreement and lift the sanctions ... but I believe Israel and some in the United States will reject that and try to sabotage this move," former Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher told Reuters. Lebanon's top Shi'ite Muslim cleric, Ayatollah Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah, said a Feb. 19 meeting between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice could set back the deal. "We do not have the impression that this meeting will achieve any solution in the issue of occupation and the arrival of independence," Fadlallah said. The Palestinian agreement was seen as a good omen for Saudi efforts to help stabilise Lebanon and Iraq, where Shi'ite Iran is backing groups challenging a perceived U.S.-imposed order. "I hope that the success of the Saudi efforts in closing the bleeding wound of the Palestinians ... would lead to positive results in the kingdom's efforts to resolve the Lebanese crisis," said Ghattas Khouri, a senior aide to Saad al-Hariri, Saudi-backed leader of Lebanon's parliamentary majority. Saudi Arabia has been in contact with Tehran and several world powers to try to defuse Lebanon's crisis over demands by the Hezbollah-led opposition for veto power in the government. "Is Lebanon on the verge of another Mecca after the agreement in Mecca yesterday between the Palestinian factions opened the door for settlements of this kind?" asked Beirut's pro-opposition al-Akhbar newspaper in an editorial. "The Mecca summit proves the Arab world is in deep need of a decent effort from its leaders, and diplomacy that is not based on exploitation, diplomacy that aims to end the inter-Arab conflict," the Saudi-owned pan-Arab daily Asharq Al-Awsat said. (Additional reporting by Yara Bayoumy in Beirut, Diala Saadeh in Dubai and Alaa Shahine in Cairo)
