Friday, Palestinian Prime Minister, Ismail Haniyya, appealed to the Palestinian factions who want to participate in the unity government to speed-up in choosing their candidates. He warned that further delays could embolden the factions that oppose the deal, an Israeli online daily reported.The daily added that Haniyya asked the Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, and his Fateh faction to submit their list by Friday, before the planned Abbas-Haniyya meeting in the Gaza Strip.
Fateh said that it still needs more time for internal talks and deliberations. Meanwhile, a Hamas official stated that this could lead to an additional week’s delay before the government is settled.
On Friday, Haniyya said while speaking at a mosque in Gaza City that the aim of the unity government is to be formed quickly to block any further delays and to block the parties who oppose the deal from forcing the factions to retreat or imposing pressure on the people to reject the deal.
So far, officials of Hamas and Fateh have given no explanation on the causes of the delay, or how long this delay would last, but promised to accelerate the process.
Ghazi Hamad, an aide to Haniyya, said that he expects Abbas and Haniyya to meet in Gaza on Saturday, yet some important issues might not be solved.
Palestine-info news website, run by Hamas, reported that Haniyya said that he concluded the consultations on forming the new unity government, and said the “the aggressive Israeli response to the unity deal, proves that we are on the right track”.
He explained that Israel does not want the Palestinian factions to unite, and only wants to resume its attacks and invasions against the Palestinian areas and people.
