Palestinian PM to meet Abbas to seal cabinet
Source: Reuters
By Nidal al-Mughrabi GAZA, Feb 26 (Reuters) - Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said on Monday he would meet President Mahmoud Abbas soon to agree on the shape of a national unity government. Haniyeh's militant Islamist Hamas group and Abbas's rival Fatah faction signed an agreement in Mecca this month to forge a coalition cabinet after weeks of internal violence. Washington has told Palestinian and Israeli officials it will shun the government until it meets the demands of a quartet of international mediators to recognise Israel, renounce violence and accept past interim peace agreements. The unity coalition agreement falls short of the demands. "There will be a meeting between me and the president to put the final touches to the government," Haniyeh told his cabinet, without giving a timetable. "We are full of hope to announce the government in the nearest time possible." The Israeli army pursued a two-day-old incursion in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus in search of militants. Troops shot dead a Palestinian civilian and wounded his son as they watched the raid from their rooftop, residents and medics said. An Israeli military spokesman said troops fired on three Palestinian suspects on a rooftop, killing one and wounding another, whom they detained as a "terror operative." Haniyeh said he would meet Hamas and Fatah officials on Tuesday to discuss ministerial candidates. The two groups have yet to agree on who should fill the coveted position of interior minister, who is in charge of Palestinian security forces. Minor clashes between rival security forces have often sparked deadly violence, especially in Gaza, in recent months. DIFFICULT TASKS "Fatah will urge the prime minister to speed up the formation of the unity government...because there are difficult tasks awaiting," said Maher Meqbad, spokesman for the group. "We need a government that will deal with the internal situation and carry out an intensive diplomatic campaign to confront the (international) siege," he said. The Quartet, comprising the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations, wants its conditions met before resuming aid it withheld from the Palestinian Authority after Hamas won a parliamentary election in January 2006. Abbas is on a foreign tour to garner support for the unity agreement and plans to return on Thursday for more coalition talks, Fatah officials said. Haniyeh has said the new government will abide by a letter from Abbas, which urges the future cabinet to respect past agreements with Israel that have endorsed a two-state solution. Officials from both groups have said the unity agreement will not be amended. Abbas said in Cairo on Monday he plans to meet Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert within two weeks. There was no immediate comment from Israeli officials. Abbas and Olmert reaffirmed their commitment to peace efforts during a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Jerusalem last week.
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