Fatah, Hamas to unveil new cabint next week

Faction leaders set to converge in Cairo next Tuesday to announce new government. Candidate names being kept under wraps

Elior Levy|Published: 06.14.11 , 20:54

Fatah and Hamas representatives announced that they would announce the new Palestinian unity government next Tuesday.

The two sides started joint deliberations in Cairo Tuesday and the meeting they hold next week might also include the presence of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas' Politburo Chief Khaled Mashaal who signed the original unity agreement two months ago.

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Various Arab sources have claimed that the two groups have already agreed on the identity of the next Palestinian prime minister yet both Fatah and Hamas have decided not to reveal his name until next week.

Mahmoud abbas and Khaled Mashaal (Photo: Reuters)

The Al Jazeera network reported that the groups have agreed that current Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad will not continue in his role, though this report has not received any official confirmation.

Hamas were firmly opposed to having Fayyad remain in his role as prime minister and responded with anger to reports claiming Fatah decided he would be their candidate for the role.

In a report published in the al-Hayat newspaper, a senior Hamas official claimed that Hamas decided that the current prime minister in Gaza Ismail Haniyeh would be their candidate for the role of Palestinian prime minister.

Yet just a short time later, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri denied the report. The spokesman reiterated Hamas' opposition to the selection of Fayyad to the role but said that "a prime minister must be chosen through agreements".

In the past, both groups stated that the new government would be made up of technocrats – professionals with no affiliation to wither Hamas or Fatah.

Elior Levy is Ynet's Palestinian affairs correspondent