Abbas, Hamas discuss next Palestinian government

GAZA (Reuters) – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas began
talks with leaders of election winner Hamas on Monday on
forming a government headed by the Islamic militant group.

Hamas officials said they expected Abbas to ask the group’s
choice for prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, to put together a
government. Earlier, Hamas held talks with militant factions,
one of which, Islamic Jihad, declined to join up.

Once Abbas gives the nod to Haniyeh, a Hamas leader viewed
by many Palestinians as a pragmatist, the 43-year-old Gazan
will have up to five weeks to form an administration.

Hamas, a group dedicated to Israel’s destruction, crushed
Abbas’s long-dominant Fatah faction in the January 25
parliamentary election on a platform pledging to root out
corruption in the Palestinian Authority.

In a speech to the new parliament on Saturday, Abbas
appealed to a future Hamas government to recognize past peace
deals with Israel and commit itself to pursuing statehood
through talks but stopped short of setting conditions for
forming a cabinet.

Hamas swiftly rejected Abbas’s call, but neither the group
nor the president appeared ready for an immediate showdown.