Palestinian Prime Minister, Ismael Haniyeh, reiterated Tuesday acceptance of forming a Palestinian national unity government and refused President Mahmoud Abbas’ call for early elections.
In a televised speech, Palestinian Prime Minister, responded Tuesday to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ call for early Presidential and Legislative elections earlier this week in the wake of failed national unity government talks and the ongoing internationally-imposed economic embargo.
The Palestinian premier recalled a 9-month old failed unity government talks, denying claims that the Hamas-led government has been a part of that failure, citing major stops in such a dialogue including the Qatari foreign minister’s , Hamad Bin Jasem, mediation efforts.
"The Qatari Foreign Minister has phoned me from Washington, telling me, ‘you are not a part of the problem’, Haniyeh recalled.
PM Haniya also held Palestinian parties, without naming any, responsibile for attempting to fail his government, quoting a foreign ministry official’s letter to Palestinian representation offices worldwide, in which she requested them to contact her directly rather than Palestinian Foreign Minister, Mahmoud Az-Zahhar, of Hamas.
The PM asserted on the need to keep the Palestinian national unity, calling on all parties to end signs of tension in the streets, including carrying weapons, kidnappings and gatherings.
The PM reiterated his government’s willingness to reach a national unity government based on the Palestinian prisoners’ conciliation document, emphasizing the need to reactivate the Palestine Liberation Organization, on basis of the May, 2005 Cairo national dialogue.
Haniyeh asked his interior minister, Said Siyam to hold an emergency meeting of all security bodies to fix a ceasefire announced Monday by all Palestinian factions including the rivalry Hamas and Fatah.
In initial reaction to Haniya’s speech, Jibril Alrejoub, member of Revolutionary Council of Fatah movement, the former ruling party, agreed on resuming the national unity government talks, provided that such a dialogue would take into account the regional and international dimensions of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, wondering, through the Aljazeera Channle , whether Hamas is a religious group linked with the Islamic brotherhood movement or a national political party.
Speaking to Aljazeera Channle, Saleh Zedan, of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine and member of the Palestinian factions follow-up committee, called for a comprehensive national dialogue as soon as possible to save much Palestinian blood and finalize a unity government.
The Prime Minister’s speech came after five Palestinian residents including a woman and at least 20 others were wounded during gun battles in Gaza streets between Fatah and Hamas supporters.
The two rivalry parties also exchanged kidnappings of each’s members over the past couple of days; all came following Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ address to the Palestinian people, in which he called for early presidential and legislative elections.
The Hamas-led government took over the Palestinian National Authority after the January2006 legislative elections. Since then, the international community has been demanding Hamas to recognize Israel, accepts past signed agreements, and renounces violence as pre conditions for money aid to the Palestinian Authority.
