The Palestinian Prime Minister designate, Ismael Haniyeh is still carrying out rounds of meeting with representatives of the various Palestinian political parties to form his new government.The Palestinian Prime Minister designate, Ismael Haniyeh is still carrying out rounds of meeting with representatives of the various Palestinian political parties to form his new government.
It is likely that he ends his first round of talks on Wednesday, with not much hope of a wide spectrum of factions joining in.
The Palestinian Front for the Liberation of Palestine, (PFLP), the Palestinian People’s Party, the Islamic Jihad and the Arab Liberation Front have already stated that they will not join the government, each with a different reason.
The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, (DFLP) is still undecided on whether to join the unity government or not.
However, a common objection among all the Palestinian faction against Fatah and Hamas is that they acted as the only players in the Palestinian field.
While they praise the achievement of the Makkah agreement which put an end to the infighting, the other factions condemn the marginalization of their role by the two major parties, Fatah and Hamas.
On the other hand, all Political factions including those who declared their intention not to join the government said they will not by any way obstruct the formation of the unity government.
However, the internal critique is not the only challenge facing the future of the coming government. Israel and the United States continue to pressure the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in bid to foil the Makkah agreement.
Israel has clearly stated following the three-way meeting that joined Abbas with the Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and the US secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Jerusalem on Tuesday, that it will not negotiate with Abbas over the final status issues if he implemented Makkah agreement.
Meanwhile, the US administration said it will wait for the government to be formed before it declares its stance, yet the US continue to demand the upcoming Palestinian government to recognize Israel, renounce violence and respect previously signed agreements.
