(Recasts, adds details)

ABU DHABI, Feb 3 (Reuters) - Foreign ministers of U.S.-allied Arab states meeting in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday sought to consolidate Arab unity and expressed support for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas who remains at odds with Hamas.

"Our aim is to boost Arab solidarity, to mobilise our backing for the Arab peace initiative and to bolster support for the Palestinian Authority under the leadership of President Mahmoud Abbas," the United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahayan told Reuters.

Sheikh Abdullah said ministers of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain, Jordan, Morocco, Tunisia, Yemen and the Palestinian Authority also backed the Palestine Liberation Organisation as the "sole and legitimate representative of the Palestinian people", after Hamas called for it to be replaced by a body less dominated by allies of Abbas.

The meeting comes on a day when a rocket fired from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip struck the Israeli port city of Ashkelon and Israeli aircraft bombed smuggling tunnels connecting Gaza with Egypt.

Gaza is still reeling from a 22-day Israeli offensive that the Jewish state said was aimed at ending rocket salvoes. The Gaza assault ended with Jan. 18 ceasefire declarations but no agreement for a lasting truce.

Egypt has been trying with U.S. backing to broker a long-term truce which would end Palestinian arms smuggling and also lead to reopening the coastal enclave's border crossings, one of Hamas's key demands.

Arab ministers meeting in Abu Dhabi backed Egypt's efforts and were preparing the ground for a donors conference in Egypt on March 2 aimed at helping the Palestinian people, with the full involvement of the Palestinian Authority.

"The ministers who met here today were all in support of the Egyptian initiative and Cairo's effort to achieve calm between the Palestinian and the Israeli sides and for Palestinian unity," Sheikh Abdullah said.

Responding to Egypt's mediation, Hamas said on Monday it would be prepared to halt hostilities for a year if a deal could be reached on lifting Israel's crippling blockade of Gaza.

A Hamas delegation planned to meet Egyptian mediators in Cairo on Tuesday to deliver a response to the truce proposals.

Hamas, which beat Abbas's secular Fatah faction in a January 2006 election and took over the Gaza Strip 18 months later, has been shunned by Western powers for refusing to renounce violence and recognise Israel.

But Hamas receives support from Iran and other regional allies and levies local taxes.

In apparent reference to Iran's role, Sheikh Abdullah said the Abu Dhabi meeting on Tuesday was expected to be the first of several taking place over the coming weeks aimed at bridging differences among Arab countries that were underscored by divisions over how best to deal with the Gaza offensive.

"We are working to overcome this difficult time in the Arab world to achieve a reconciliation that will put an end to unwelcome involvement in our affairs by non-Arab parties in an often non-constructive manner," Sheikh Abdullah said. (Reporting by Lin Noueihed; Editing by Dominic Evans)

AlertNet news is provided by