Palestinian factions delay submitting cabinet list
Source: Reuters
(Updates after Haniyeh meeting with Abbas aide) By Nidal al-Mughrabi GAZA, March 2 (Reuters) - Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas appealed to faction leaders on Friday to finish choosing ministers for a unity government and said further delay could embolden opponents of the deal. Haniyeh had asked President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction and other groups to submit their choices by Friday, ahead of a planned meeting with Abbas in the Gaza Strip, but this deadline has been pushed back. Following a late night meeting between Haniyeh and Abbas aide Azzam al-Ahmed in Gaza, the prime minister said Hamas would present its list of ministers on Saturday and Ahmed said the Fatah list could be released by Sunday. With most of the differences between the parties now resolved, Ahmed said he expected the government could be named by the end of the coming week. Abbas and Haniyeh had originally been due to meet on Saturday but the meeting was put back to Sunday. Speaking at a Gaza City mosque before Friday prayers, Haniyeh said his goal was to form the unity government quickly to "block the way for parties that want to force us to retreat and put pressure on the people, the president and the government". Haniyeh aide Ghazi Hamad said he expected Abbas and Haniyeh to meet in Gaza on Sunday. It was unclear if outstanding issues, including naming an interior minister, a critical post with oversight of large security services, would be settled by then. Likewise, Fatah has yet to say who will serve as deputy prime minister under Haniyeh. EUROPEANS 'SUPPORTIVE' OF DEAL Hamas and Fatah signed a power-sharing deal last month in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, that stemmed factional fighting but stopped short of explicitly meeting the three demands of the Quartet of Middle East mediators. The agreement contains a vague promise to "respect" previous Israeli-Palestinian pacts. But it does not commit the incoming government to abide by those pacts, nor to recognise Israel and renounce violence as demanded by the Quartet. Haniyeh said many European countries were supportive of the unity deal and lashed out at the United States and Israel for objecting to the pact. "There is a progressive European position (towards dealing with the Palestinian unity government). I hope that the U.S. administration will reconsider its policies because there is a Palestinian consensus and will, and therefore the international community must respect it," Haniyeh told reporters as he entered another round of negotiations on Friday evening. Although Hamas and Fatah have not publicly unveiled their cabinet choices, they have both agreed the incoming finance minister would be Salam Fayyad, a U.S.-educated economist with close ties to the Bush government.
| AlertNet news is provided by |  |
