Hamas expects to form government

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA (Reuters) – A Hamas leader said on Saturday that the
Islamic militant group hoped to form a Palestinian government
later this month after agreeing with President Mahmoud Abbas to
convene parliament on February 16.

“We are starting the process and we are sure that within
February we will be able to see a new government,” Hamas leader
Mahmoud al-Zahar told Reuters after his first meeting with
Abbas since Hamas won a January 25 parliamentary poll.

Abbas, who has said he cannot ask a party to form a
government until parliament convenes, did not formally ask
Hamas to put together a cabinet in Saturday’s meeting.

But Abbas’ spokesman Nabil Abu Rdainah confirmed that
Hamas, having won 74 seats in the 132-member legislature and
defeated the long dominant Fatah movement, would be chosen to
head a new government.

“Hamas is the biggest parliament bloc and they will have to
present a name to the president so that the president will ask
him officially to form the government,” Abu Rdainah said.

Ismail Haniyeh, a Hamas leader who was also at the meeting
with Abbas, said Hamas would seek to “speed up formation of the
coming government to avoid any constitutional vacuum.”

Zahar said Hamas had already asked Abbas’ Fatah party to
join in a government, but it had not yet given a response.

Abbas himself made no immediate comment after the 90 minute
talks. He had told reporters on Friday it could take time
before a new government was formed.

The call of Hamas’ charter to destroy Israel could prove an
obstacle, as Abbas has said he would expect any Palestinian
government to respect interim peace deals with Israel.

The United States and European Union have said that a
Hamas-led Palestinian Authority would risk losing crucial
foreign aid unless the group disarmed and recognized Israel.

HAMAS SAYS NO TALKS WITH ISRAEL

In his remarks after meeting with Abbas, Zahar reiterated:
“We will not negotiate with Israel under any conditions.” He
said Palestinians would seek alternative funding if aid was
cut.

“We can bypass the donations from the West. We have
financial aid from the Arab and Islamic countries,” Zahar said.

Khaled Meshaal, Hamas’ top leader who lives in exile in
Damascus, said on Friday the group would never recognize Israel
but might be willing to negotiate terms for a temporary truce.

Israel brushed off Meshaal’s comments demanding Hamas
unequivocally recognize Israel’s right to exist and abandon
terrorism.

Israel’s central bank governor urged the government to
consider lifting a freeze on handing over tax revenue to the
Palestinians, after Israel suspended a monthly payment of some
$55 million following Hamas’ election victory.

The revenue is a main source of funding to the Palestinian
Authority without which Palestinian officials have said they
would lack money to pay 140,000 government employees.

“I generally prefer to stand by the agreements we have
signed with them (the Palestinian Authority),” Stanley Fischer,
the bank governor, told Israel Radio.

Israeli interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s cabinet was
expected to discuss releasing the funds at its weekly session
on Sunday, political sources said.

The Palestinian Authority runs on a budget of about $100
million a month. In addition to the taxes collected by Israel,
it receives about $1 billion from international donors.

The U.N. Security Council on Friday followed the United
States and European Union in calling on Hamas to disarm and
recognize Israel.

(Additional reporting by Jonathan Saul in Jerusalem)