Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haneya said on Friday that a
new national unity government would be formed within three
weeks.
"We hope that we will be able to set up the government in less
than three weeks," Haneya said at a sermon at a Gaza City's mosque
on Friday.
The remarks came one day after Haneya and his government
resigned and President Mahmoud Abbas asked him to form a coalition
government in line with the Mecca agreement signed by the two rival
movements of Hamas and Fatah in Saudi Arabia last week.
The Palestinians hope a new power-sharing government would gain
the recognition of the international community and help end Western
boycott imposed on the former Hamas-led government.
On Thursday night, Haneya officially presented his resignation
to Abbas and then the latter handed Haneya another letter of
designation asking him to form the new government.
Haneya told reporters after the ceremony that "from now on I
will start my negotiations with all political powers and
factions."
Hamas, defeating the long-dominant Fatah, single-handedly formed
a government last March but it was boycotted by the West due to its
refusal to meet three demands of recognizing Israel, renouncing
violence and abiding by the previous peace accords, set forth by
the Quartet on the Middle East.
It was not clear if a new Palestinian government would be
accepted by the Quartet, grouping the UN, the US, the EU and
Russia, which conditioned that any Palestinian government should
meet the aforementioned three key demands.
The Mecca agreement didn't mention the recognition of Israel.
Instead, Abbas called on the future government "to respect
international law and agreements signed by the Palestine Liberation
Organization."
(Xinhua News Agency February 17, 2007)
