Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, and acting Prime Minister, Ismail Haniyya, met in Gaza on Sunday in an attempt to push forward the formation of the Palestinian Unity Government, but the meeting failed to achieve any positive results.
!– @page { size: 21.59cm 27.94cm; margin: 2cm } P { margin-bottom: 0.21cm } –>Spokesperson of Hamas at the Palestinian Cabinet, Dr. Ghazi Hamad, said that the movement was hoping to present the government before the period alloted to Haniyya expires. Haniyya has two more weeks in his position as an acting Prime Minister.
Hamas stated that the consultations were not completed during the Sunday meeting, but will continue in the coming days.
Abbas-Haniyya meeting lasted for three hours and the two leaders left just after midnight without making any statement to the reporters.
The talks were based on the Mecca agreement reached last month in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. The agreement laid out the framework of a unity agreement between Fateh and Hamas.
Meanwhile, spokesperson of Abbas, Nabil Abu Rodeina, said that assigning government positions should be concluded within this week.
Also, Palestinian officials stated that Abbas and Haniyya are expected to meet again in Monday and Tuesday.
One of the main points that Abbas and Haniyya could not reach an agreement on was the identity of the Interior Minister; Hamas presented two names but Abbas rejected them.
The Minister of Interior at the Palestinian government controls all of the security devices.
Also, Fateh and Hamas were unable to reach an agreement on the identity of the deputy Prime Minister, but it seems that Salaam Fayyad, the acting deputy PM will remain in his position.
Another point of difference still to be resolved in the appointment of Foreign Minister, Ziad Abu Amer.
Hamas wants the FM appointment to be on the expense of the independent ministers alloted to Fateh, while Fateh wants the opposite.
