Hamas chooses “pragmatist” as next Palestinian PM

By Mohammed Assadi

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) – Hamas on Thursday chose
Ismail Haniyeh, a Hamas leader widely viewed by Palestinians as
a pragmatist, to be the next prime minister, a senior official
in the militant group said.

Haniyeh, 43, headed Hamas’s list of candidates in the
January 25 parliamentary election in which the movement,
dedicated to Israel’s destruction and riding a wave of
popularity over its pledge to fight corruption, scored a
landslide victory.

“We have decided to nominate brother Ismail Haniyeh as the
prime minister,” the senior official told Reuters after Hamas’s
elected legislators met in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because Hamas
has yet to make a formal announcement. He said the nomination
was made after consultations with Hamas officials in the Gaza
Strip.

Haniyeh had been widely expected to get Hamas’s nod. The
movement was expected to present Haniyeh’s nomination to
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday.

Abbas would then ask Haniyeh to form a government, based on
a program proposed by the president, a moderate who advocates a
resumption of peace talks with Israel. Once Haniyeh puts
together a government, parliament would hold a confidence vote.

Many Palestinians see Haniyeh as someone rival factions and
ultimately Israel could do business with.

In a Reuters interview earlier this month, he said Hamas
would honor commitments by the Palestinian Authority to Israel,
but only if they served Palestinian interests.

Israel says it could not consider dealing with Hamas until
the group recognized the Jewish state, renounced violence and
accepted past interim peace deals.

Haniyeh, a Gaza resident, survived an Israeli air strike in
2003 targeting Hamas’s leadership at the height of a
Palestinian uprising it has spearheaded.

Following the election, Haniyeh reached out to Abbas’s
defeated Fatah party and other factions to join a broad-based
government.