Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas swore in an emergency
Cabinet Sunday and outlawed the militia forces of the Islamic Hamas
movement, deepening the violent rupture in Palestinian society.
Hamas seized control of Gaza last week after a series of bloody
battles with Abbas' Fatah movement. The violence left Gaza
increasingly isolated, a situation worsened on Sunday when an
Israeli fuel company cut off deliveries to gas stations in the
impoverished coastal strip.
The hurried swearing-in ceremony of the new Cabinet left the
Palestinians effectively with two governments - the Hamas
leadership headed by deposed Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh in Gaza
and the new Cabinet led by internationally respected economist
Salam Fayyad.
"The first priority of our government is security and the
security situation," Fayyad told reporters. "The mission will be
difficult and hard, but not impossible."
Abbas issued a decree early Sunday annulling a law requiring the
new government to be approved by parliament, which is dominated by
Hamas.
In Gaza, Haniyeh called the new government illegal and insisted
he remains in power. "The council of ministers considers the steps
adopted by President Mahmoud Abbas to ... have no basis in law," he
said. "The national unity government asserts here that we are
fulfilling our duty according to our law."
Fayyad, an independent, will retain his post as finance minister
and also serve as foreign minister in the emergency government,
which Abbas appointed to replace the Hamas-led Cabinet he fired
after Hamas seized control of Gaza.
The small emergency Cabinet is dominated by independents,
including human rights activists and business people. Interior
Minister Abdel Razak Yehiyeh is one of the few politicians in the
lineup.
In taking office, Fayyad said the new government would work to
end the chaos.
Addressing the Palestinians in Gaza, he said: "You are in our
hearts, and the top of our agenda. The dark images, the shameful
things that are alien to our traditions ... are not going to stop
us."
It is "time to work together for Palestine", he said.
Abbas also issued a decree on Sunday outlawing Hamas' militias,
"due to their military coup against the Palestinian legitimacy and
its institutions".
"Anyone who is involved in any of these two groups is going to
be punished, according to the law and the orders of the state of
emergency," the decree said.
(China Daily via agencies June 18, 2007)
