Hamas leader Haniyeh to head new Palestinian government
Photo: AP
Hamas ready to form government
Group leaders expected to meet with Abbas Sunday; Fatah to stay out of government
Hamas said Saturday it has completed the formation of a government, two weeks ahead of deadline, but apparently without coalition partners that might have softened the Islamic group's image.
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, who has to approve the Cabinet line up before it can be approved by parliament, is tentatively scheduled to meet Hamas leaders on Sunday, Hamas officials said. Initially, the sides were to meet Saturday.
Abbas aides said the Palestinian leader considered the Hamas platform too vague and that he would ask for it to be rewritten, but they backtracked on Saturday.
Abbas was elected separately and wields considerable authority. However, Abbas cannot impose his own Cabinet lineup on Hamas, which swept January parliament elections and controls an absolute majority in the legislature.
Abbas is expected to put off parliamentary approval of the new government until after Israel's March 28 election, but spokesman Nabil Abu Rdeneh said the PA chairman would accept the Hamas Cabinet even if it does not adopt his more moderate platform.
"Abu Mazen will not place obstacles before the Hamas government," Abu Rdeneh told The Associated Press.
However, Abbas - widely known as Abu Mazen - will advise Hamas that by refusing to accept a more pragmatic program, they could "get into trouble," Abu Rdeneh said.
Mahmoud Zahar, a hard-line Hamas firebrand, will almost definitely be named Foreign Minister, according to a preliminary list of Cabinet ministers given to The Associated Press by anonymous officials in Hamas and the radical Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the list has not been finalized.
Said Siyam, a popular Hamas lawmaker from Gaza, has been tapped for the Interior and Civil Affairs Ministries, which control three of the Palestinian's five security forces and is responsible for contacts with Israel's security services, the officials said.
Siyam, who is considered a relative moderate, was among hundreds of Hamas members deported by Israel to south Lebanon in 1992. He recently joined a Hamas delegation to Moscow, where they met top Russian officials.
If the PFLP decides to join the Hamas government, it will be awarded the Finance Ministry, the officials said. If the PFLP stays out of the government, Omar Abdel-Razek, a professor at Nablus' a-Najah University, will be named Finance Minister. Abdel-Razek was released from an Israeli prison just a few days ago.
Two professors from the Islamic University in Gaza are likely to be named to the public works and higher education ministries, the officials said.
