Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas is to head an interim consensus government under a deal signed with Hamas yesterday, ending long-running disagreement over the post that stalled Palestinian reconciliation.
Reconciliation is in the Palestinian and Arab national interest
The accord signed in Qatar was welcomed by officials from both rival Palestinian movements Hamas and Fatah, but Israel warned Mr Abbas to choose between reconciliation with Hamas and making peace with the Jewish state.
The full line-up of the interim national consensus government, which will supervise the run-up to long-delayed presidential and legislative elections, is to be announced in Cairo next week at a meeting of all the Palestinian factions.
The deal was sealed by Fatah head Mr Abbas and Khaled Meshaal, head of the Islamist movement Hamas, at a ceremony in Doha in the presence of Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani.
The so-called “Doha Declaration” is the latest attempt by the rival movements to implement a reconciliation deal signed last April.
The declaration calls for a government of “independent technocrats” to oversee reconstruction efforts in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip and to “facilitate the implementation of presidential and parliamentary elections.”
Speaking to reporters after signing the declaration, Mr Abbas said his Fatah movement “did not sign this agreement for show... but because we plan to implement it.”
“Reconciliation is in the Palestinian and Arab national interest,” he said, pledging to implement all terms of the agreement “as fast as possible.” Mr Meshaal said the two factions were “very serious about closing the chapter of division and strengthening” their national unity.
The Palestinians now need to “devote all our power to confronting the occupying enemy,” he said in a reference to Israel.
A senior Fatah official said the new government would be announced in Cairo on February 18 at a meeting between the Palestine Liberation Organisation leadership and all Palestinian factions, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
“On the 18th of this month in Cairo, there will be a final declaration on the formation of the new government to be headed by President Mahmud Abbas,” Azzam al-Ahmad said.
The deal yesterday came after months of deadlock over the formation of an interim government, with Mr Abbas reportedly insistent that his current prime minister Salam Fayyad keep the top post, despite fierce Hamas opposition.
But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed the deal.“I say to Abu Mazen (Abbas), you cannot grasp the stick at both ends. It is either peace with Hamas or peace with Israel, you cannot have both,” he told a meeting of his Likud party’s ministers, according to a statement from his office.
The United States was more nuanced in its reponse.
“As we’ve said many times, questions of Palestinian reconciliation are an internal matter for Palestinians,” said State Department spokesman Victoria Nuland.