Palestinian Prime Minister, Ismail Haniya, ruled out Thursday possibility to forming another coalition government, saying that dissolution of the current government remains an option if the international economic embargo remains in place.
In a interview with the Palestine Daily, a newly-established pro-Hamas newspaper, PM Haniya warned of a general collapse in the situation, calling on those who continue to impose the economic embargo to study his warnings seriously.
Haniya, who is also a top Hamas leader, told the Palestine Daily “before forming a national coalition, we have two options; either to form a government that succumbs to the international demands or form a government that challenges the embargo”.
The Palestinian Prime Minister, said that his foreign and finance ministers have been making relentless efforts to garner backing for the sake of ending the boycott
“ I can say now that if the embargo goes on, negative political and economical results might emerge and would influence calm and settlement in the region”, the Palestinian premier maintained.
Hamas and Fatah agreed on late Feb. to a coalition government that respects signed peace agreements with Israel and asserts the Palestinian people’s right to resist the Israeli occupation.
Exiled Hamas’s political leader, Khaled Mash’al, has recently warned from Damascus, of a third Intifada “uprising”, unless a political horizon is opened.
Top Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Eriqat, believed Wednesday that the Hamas-led government’s inability to deal with the internal security lapses and the lift the embargo, will eventually draw its collapse.
The Palestinian territories have been going through a crippling economic embargo since a Hamas-led government was installed after last January’s parliamentary elections.
The international Quartet for promoting peace in the Middle East, comprised of United States, United Nations, European Union and Russia, still demand the Palestinian government to recognize Israel renounce violence and accept past signed agreements.
Israel continues to attack the West Bank, almost on daily basis, strictly controls Gaza’s border crossing points, while Palestinian-Israeli peace process has been stalled since the outbreak of the Palestinian Intifada in late 2000.
