In what seems to be a new internal crisis between Hamas and Fateh, the Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has cancelled his Thursday speech, in which he was supposed to officially assign Ismail Haniyya as Prime Minister of the unity government.The address was supposed to be delivered by Abbas at noon on Thursday, but apparently increasing differences between Fateh and Hamas forced Abbas to delay the speech until further notice.
Meanwhile, a Palestinian official speaking on condition of anonymity said that the Mecca agreement must be implemented immediately without any conditions, and that Hamas has made several conditions that “cannot be implemented”.
An Israeli online daily reported that Hamas insists that it will dissolve the current cabinet if the unity government is willing to recognize any decision made by the Hamas cabinet; this includes political appointments and the Executive Security Force, which was formed by the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Interior.
Haniyya also stated that Abbas must immediately announce which of the two figures chosen by Hamas will be assigned the post of Minister of Interior.
The Mecca agreement states that Hamas should choose an independent candidate for the position of interior minister, and Abbas has the right to reject or approve the appointed figure.
The third issue is that the Fateh party must agree to consider Ziad Abu Amer, who was chosen as the minister on interior. Abu Amer is an independent candidate, choosing him will enable Hamas to have a greater number of ministerial posts in the new cabinet.
On Thursday, Abbas is set to head to Gaza for a meeting with Ismail Haniyya, in an attempt to resolve the remaining conflicting issues.
Abbas’ political advisor, Nabil Abu Rodeina, said on Wednesday evening that Abbas’ speech was delayed indefinitely, but did not comment on the reasons.
In a short press conference in Ramallah, Abu Rodeina said that the Fateh movement is committed to the Mecca Agreement, and will not accept any changes or “new conditions” to the signed deal.
“It must be fully implemented without any conditions or changes”, Abu Rodeina said.
