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Palestinians gear up for formation of unity gov't

15 May 2014 02:34 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. The talks between leaders of Islamist Hamas movement and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah Party on the formation of a transitional technocrats' unity government have positively ended in Gaza and the unity government will be declared soon, a Fatah official said on Wednesday, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

"The formation of the unity government is imminent, which will be headed by President Abbas. We are going in the right direction and the new government will be declared soon," Azzam el-Ahmad, head of the Fatah delegation to the dialogue with Hamas told reporters in a short news briefing.

El-Ahmad arrived in Gaza on Tuesday and held talks with leaders of Hamas in the Gaza Strip on the formation of the unity government. The two sides held two sessions of dialogue and exchanged lists of names of expected ministers that will be in the new cabinet.

Following the two sessions, members of the two groups went to the house of Hamas premier Ismail Haneya in Gaza city to brief him on the results of their discussions. El-Ahmad told reporters that President Abbas is the one who will declare the formation of the new unity government.

El-Ahmad declined to give more details on who are the ministers in the new government. However, Haneya said earlier that the implementation of the reconciliation "has been going very fine and we are so closed to declare the new government."

Following the meeting with Haneya, el-Ahmad went back to the West Bank to meet with President Abbas and briefed him on the results his latest debates with Hamas leaders in Gaza on the formation of the new unity government.

Meanwhile, Faisal Abu Shahla, a Gaza-based Fatah leader told Xinhua that el-Ahmad is scheduled to brief President Abbas the results of his debates with Hamas leaders in Gaza, adding that Abbas will soon declare the new government that he will be its prime minister.

"Our talks with Hamas were positive and constructive. We discussed the role of the ministers in the new government and we exchanged many names of candidates," said Abu Shahla, adding "we agreed with Hamas that President Abbas is the one who will head the new government."

Sami Abu Zuhri, Hamas spokesman in Gaza, said in a press statement that the meetings between Fatah and Hamas leaders "were positive and they achieved a good progress." He added that "more consultations and debates are needed."

A senior official close to the dialogue between the two groups told Xinhua on condition of anonymity that the new government will include 19 ministers, adding that after the two groups exchanged their lists of names, they agreed on one list that will be soon declared.

"Three of the ministers who are currently in the government headed by Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah will remain in the new government while all Hamas ministers in the government in Gaza will leave and will be replaced by technocrats," said the official.

He added that the two sides agreed on the mission and the authorizations of the new government, including the shares of the ministers for both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

During the meeting, Hamas security forces, which seized control of the Gaza Strip by force in 2007, including the house of President Abbas, evacuated the house to hand it over to the new government.

Sayed Abu Shamallah, a Hamas security official told a news conference outside the house of Abbas in Gaza city that he received instructions from the political leadership of Hamas to evacuate the house and hand it over to the new authorities.