The Independent Palestine Party, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and ‘The Alternative’ leftist coalition all decided not to join the new Hamas-led Palestinian government, leaving Hamas to form a one-party government like their predecessor Fateh.
Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi, head of the "Independent Palestine" party in the Palestinian legislature, said on Saturday that his group would not join the new government to be announced shortly by the Islamic Resistance Movement.
In a similar vein, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a Marxist party with an armed wing that has been declared a ‘terrorist’ organization by the United States, also announced their party would not join the Hamas government.
And earlier last week, the leftist coalition Al-Badil [the Alternative], also made the decision not to join the Hamas government.
Barghouthi said at a press conference held in the West Bank city of Ramallah that his party would not join the upcoming Hamas-led cabinet, but would support the government in every positive action that benefited the Palestinian people’s interests. "Independent Palestine will play a positive role in removing the disputes (in the parliament) and achieving national harmony," he said.
In addition, Barghouthi urged the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), an umbrella which groups key Palestinian factions including the Fatah movement, to open its doors for Hamas in order to form a national unity leadership.
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) became the last Palestinian faction to turn down Hamas’s offer to form a coalition government.
Jamil al-Majdalawi, a PFLP leader, said: "We informed the brothers in Hamas that regrettably we are not going to participate in the government because the political programme did not include a fundamental point for us – that the PLO is the sole, legitimate representative of the Palestinian people,"
Speaking to Aljazeera from Gaza, al-Majdalawi added that the groups had "achieved progress in some of the forms and we have given concessions about some points, in an attempt to find common denominators".
He said dialogue between the groups would continue. "We will stand by Hamas to keep on its resistance", he added.
Scoring a landslide victory in the January Palestinian parliamentary elections, Hamas, which calls for Israel’s destruction, submitted its cabinet list to the Palestinian president this weekend.
