(Adds quotes) By Khaled Yacoub Oweis DAMASCUS, Nov 10 (Reuters) - The Hamas and Fatah Palestinian groups have agreed to exclude prominent politicians from a new unity government they are discussing, a high-level Hamas member said on Friday. "We are almost done with the arrangements to form a national unity government with membership based on professionalism and merit. No leading political symbols will be in it," Izzat al-Rishq, who is a member of Hamas politburo, told Reuters in the Syrian capital. The two feuding groups have also agreed that ministers in the next government will reflect the composition of the Palestinian parliament, where Hamas has more members than Fatah. Hamas and Fatah have been trying to form what they call a technocrat unity government. The new administration could prompt the West to ease sanctions imposed after Hamas took power in March. The sanctions are designed to pressure the Muslim group to recognise Israel, renounce armed struggle and accept past accords. Rishq said Hamas has asked Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to seek guarantees from Western powers that they will lift the sanctions once a new government is formed. Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas briefly suspended the talks on Wednesday after the deadliest single Israeli attack on Palestinians in four years, when artillery shells killed 18 civilians in Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza. "Dialogue has resumed and joint teams with Fatah are being formed to work the final details," Rishq said. Rishq said choosing a new prime minister "will not be a problem" after Hamas and Fatah solved major differences with the understanding that the new cabinet will follow the so-called "Prisoners' Document", penned by Palestinians in Israeli jails, that Hamas agreed to in June after amendments. "There are no obstacles left," Rishq said. The document calls for negotiations with Israel if the Jewish state withdraws from land it has occupied since 1967, resistance focused on peaceful means and a unity government. Hamas, which rejected suggestions at the time that the deal implied it accepted Israel's existence, says recognition and any end to armed struggle would be futile as long as the Jewish state refuses to withdraw from all occupied land. A senior aide to Abbas said on Wednesday that a unity government could be imminent.
