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Hamas expects to form government

Posted on: Saturday, 4 February 2006, 16:02 CST

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)

Source: REUTERS

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