MIDDLE EAST:Hamas and Fatah agreed yesterday to form a national unity government which Palestinian leaders hope will extinguish factional violence and lead to the lifting of international sanctions. However, Israeli officials immediately rejected the new government, saying there would be no contacts with it, writes Peter Hirschbergin Jerusalem
Prime minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas presented the proposed cabinet list to President Mahmoud Abbas, who heads the more moderate Fatah party. He did not detail government guidelines, saying only that a major goal would be to "end the security anarchy" that has caused the deaths of more than 130 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip in recent months.
A draft of the unity government platform on Hamas and Fatah websites, however, does not meet demands set by the US, Europe and Israel for the lifting of the boycott on the Palestinian government: a renunciation of violence, adherence to previous interim peace deals and recognition of Israel. The draft does call for the preservation of a truce with Israel, but also talks of the Palestinian right to continue with resistance against Israel.
Mark Regev, a foreign ministry spokesman, said Israel would continue to boycott the Palestinian government. "Unfortunately the new Palestinian government seems to have said no to the three benchmarks of the international community," he said. "Accordingly, Israel will not deal with this new government and we hope the international community will stand firmly by its own principles and refuse to deal with a government that says no to peace and no to reconciliation."
US leaders have said they will not engage with a Palestinian government that does not meet the conditions set by the international community, but European countries have been less categorical.
EU spokeswoman Emma Udwin said yesterday that the European Commission planned to review the policy guidelines and behaviour of the new unity government before deciding on whether to re-establish contacts, which were severed after Hamas came to power in parliamentary elections in January 2006.
Diplomats in Brussels were quoted as saying that the EU might begin channelling funds again to the Palestinian Authority - sanctions were imposed last year after Hamas formed a government - by ensuring they went through Salam Fayyad, a renowned economist who will be the new finance minister. He also served in the post, for three years, when Fatah was in power.
Mr Haniyeh referred to what he perceived as differing American and European positions. "No doubt, there is a different position by the American administration and the Israelis," he said. Mohammed Dahlan, a senior Fatah figure and Abbas aide, said that before the new government "commits to agreements, the government of Israel must commit to agreements".
Mr Abbas, who has for months been trying to pressurise Hamas into forming a unity government, repeatedly used the threat of early elections to get the Islamic group to acquiesce. This threat sparked violence in Gaza that began late last year and which claimed another victim yesterday, when a Fatah militant died after a gunfight with Hamas militants in northern Gaza.
The decision over who would fill the highly sensitive post of interior minister, with control of the Palestinian security forces, was the hurdle that had held up the coalition agreement. The new minister is Hani Kawasmeh, who is neither a Hamas nor Fatah member. The list of cabinet ministers will be submitted to parliament on Saturday for a vote of confidence.