Palestinian joy as unity government takes oath
Print Edition
PRESIDENT Mahmoud Abbas swore in a Palestinian unity government yesterday in a reconciliation deal with Hamas Islamists that led Israel to freeze US-brokered peace talks.
Abbas, whose Palestinian Authority in the Israeli-occupied West Bank is dependent on foreign aid, appeared to be banking on Western acceptance — over Israeli objections — of a 16-member cabinet of what he described as politically unaffiliated technocrats.
The Western-backed leader said his administration would continue to honor agreements and principles at the foundation of a peace process with Israel.
Hamas, which advocates Israel’s destruction, has run the Gaza Strip since seizing the territory from Abbas’s Fatah forces in a brief civil war in 2007. Numerous reconciliation efforts, largely brokered by Egypt, have failed over power-sharing.
“Today, and after announcing the government of national unity, we declare the end of division that caused catastrophic harm to our cause,” Abbas said, voicing sentiments of many Palestinians, as ministers took the oath of office in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said his government would shun a Palestinian administration supported by Hamas, and he urged world leaders not to rush into recognizing it. Israel barred three Gaza-based ministers from travelling to the West Bank to be sworn in.
Ismail Haniyeh, the outgoing Palestinian prime minister in Gaza, said in a speech in the enclave that it was it “a historical day” that closed a “chapter of seven years of division.”
Hamas TV referred to Haniyeh as a “former prime minister,” in deference to the current West Bank-based holder of the post, Rami al-Hamdallah.
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