New Palestinian cabinet takes power, widening rift
The Palestinian rift widened on Wednesday after a new government, again headed by Western-backed Salam Fayyad took power, with Hamas categorically rejecting the cabinet.
Fayyad and the new ministers took the oath of office in the West Bank town of Ramallah on Tuesday, a day after a fifth round of reconciliation talks between president Mahmud Abbas's secular Fatah faction and the Islamist Hamas movement ended in Egypt without a deal.
The premier and the previous cabinet resigned in early March to pave the way for a unity deal between the two factions which have been at loggerheads since Hamas seized power in the Gaza Strip in June 2007.
The Islamists were quick to denounce the new cabinet, which does not include any members of the Islamic Resistance Movement and comes ahead of Abbas's first official meeting with US President Barack Obama in Washington on May 28.
"This government is illegal and we will not recognise it," Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum said in a statement, adding that, with its creation, Abbas was "deliberately sabotaging the Palestinian dialogue."
Analysts said the new government would only deepen the divide between Abbas's West Bank-based leadership and the Islamist masters of Gaza.
"The new government will entrench the divide between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip," said Mahdi Abdel Hadi, a political analyst.
"The (intra-Palestinian) differences are too big. This cabinet will not be able to bridge them and, on the contrary, is likely to exacerbate them," he said.
The divisions were on stark display on Tuesday, when Hamas prevented two Fatah members who are due to be ministers in the new cabinet from leaving Gaza to take the oath of office in Ramallah.
Others said the new government was formed as a result of pressure by Washington ahead of the meeting between Abbas and Obama. LinkHere
Fayyad and the new ministers took the oath of office in the West Bank town of Ramallah on Tuesday, a day after a fifth round of reconciliation talks between president Mahmud Abbas's secular Fatah faction and the Islamist Hamas movement ended in Egypt without a deal.
The premier and the previous cabinet resigned in early March to pave the way for a unity deal between the two factions which have been at loggerheads since Hamas seized power in the Gaza Strip in June 2007.
The Islamists were quick to denounce the new cabinet, which does not include any members of the Islamic Resistance Movement and comes ahead of Abbas's first official meeting with US President Barack Obama in Washington on May 28.
"This government is illegal and we will not recognise it," Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum said in a statement, adding that, with its creation, Abbas was "deliberately sabotaging the Palestinian dialogue."
Analysts said the new government would only deepen the divide between Abbas's West Bank-based leadership and the Islamist masters of Gaza.
"The new government will entrench the divide between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip," said Mahdi Abdel Hadi, a political analyst.
"The (intra-Palestinian) differences are too big. This cabinet will not be able to bridge them and, on the contrary, is likely to exacerbate them," he said.
The divisions were on stark display on Tuesday, when Hamas prevented two Fatah members who are due to be ministers in the new cabinet from leaving Gaza to take the oath of office in Ramallah.
Others said the new government was formed as a result of pressure by Washington ahead of the meeting between Abbas and Obama. LinkHere
posted by Kangaroo Brisbane Australia at 12:13 AM
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