(Adds U.S. official on limited contacts with new cabinet) By Nidal al-Mughrabi GAZA, March 16 (Reuters) - A unity government formed by rival Hamas and Fatah groups to halt deadly Palestinian violence will be sworn in on Saturday after gaining parliamentary approval, a Hamas politician said. "The government will win an easy vote of confidence," Salah al-Bardaweel, spokesman of Hamas's parliamentary bloc, told Reuters on Friday. He said the factions taking part in the coalition could easily outvote any disaffected deputies. Parliament is due to convene at 11 a.m. (0900 GMT) in Gaza City to hear a speech by President Mahmoud Abbas, whose secular Fatah faction has joined its Islamist opponents in a government led by outgoing Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas. Haniyeh will present his new cabinet line-up and read a policy speech before a debate and a confidence vote. Ministers will then be sworn in at Abbas's office, Bardaweel said. There is no guarantee that the new cabinet, born after weeks of wrangling interspersed with street clashes, will be able to persuade foreign powers to lift crippling year-old restrictions on direct aid to the Palestinian Authority. But there have been signs of Western flexibility. A U.S. official said on Friday that Washington would leave the door open to contacts with Palestinian Finance Minister-designate Salam Fayyad, who is not from Hamas, though it would not deal with him in his official capacity. France has invited new Palestinian Foreign Minister Ziad Abu Amr to visit Paris, and European diplomats said Britain planned to allow diplomatic contacts with non-Hamas ministers. "Britain is not going to have contact with Hamas but there are members of the government who are not Hamas and British diplomats will be able to have contact with them," a senior diplomat familiar with the decision said. Arab League chief Amr Moussa described the British decision as negative. "If this reaction is true, I say it's a very negative one," Moussa told reporters in Tunis, adding that the unity government was a positive move which would be backed by the Arab world. Israel has vowed to shun the entire government and has urged world powers to do the same, saying its reported programme fails to meet the terms set by the Quartet of Middle East mediators. INTERNATIONAL EMBARGO The Quartet -- the United States, European Union, Russia and the United Nations -- suspended direct aid to the government a year ago after Hamas won elections and took power. Hamas has rejected Quartet demands that it recognise Israel, renounce violence and accept past peace deals with the Jewish state. The new government is likely to pledge "respect" for past agreements, in line with a Saudi-brokered agreement reached by Hamas and Fatah in Mecca on Feb. 8. The United States has said any Palestinian government must meet all the Quartet's conditions, but has reserved judgment on the unity coalition. Like France, Russia has given warmer signs. Hamas has been troubled by the signs that Britain and other Western powers could continue to shun its ministers while allowing contacts with cabinet colleagues from Fatah or independent factions. "Hamas rejects the selectivity in dealing the ministers of the government of national unity. We urge Britain and all European countries to reconsider the position from the incoming government," said Ismail Rudwan, a Hamas spokesman. The coalition's fate may hang on whether it can erode the foreign boycott of the aid-dependent Palestinian Authority, which has been unable to pay its employees in full for a year. (Additional reporting by Adam Entous in Jerusalem, Mohammed Assadi in Ramallah, and Arshad Mohammed in Washington)
