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Abbas asks Hamas to form Palestinian government

Posted on: Saturday, 18 February 2006, 05:57 CST

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday asked Hamas to form the next Palestinian government and said he expected it to respect a commitment to talks with Israel.

Abbas said in a speech at the inauguration of the newly-elected parliament that the government must follow all agreements signed with Israel, a state the militant Islamist group formally seeks to destroy.

"The Hamas movement has become the majority in the Legislative Council and it will be tasked with the formation of the new government," Abbas said.

Hamas has five weeks to set up its government. Abbas will go to Gaza on Sunday to formally ask the Hamas prime minister to form the next cabinet.

Abbas said interim agreements with Israel in the 1990s were a political reality and that it was unacceptable for any group to doubt their legitimacy even if it opposed them. Hamas has said it regards them as dead.

"The presidency and the government will continue to respect our commitment to the negotiations approach as a strategic, pragmatic political choice," Abbas said.

"At the same time, we must continue to strengthen and develop forms of popular resistance of a peaceful nature."

Abbas urged the continuation of a truce that he agreed with Israel more than a year ago.

Hamas has carried out nearly 60 suicide bombings since a Palestinian uprising began in 2000, though it has largely followed a truce for the past year.

Hamas leaders say their new government is unlikely to follow the lines set out by Abbas when it presents its new government, paving the way for a possible political confrontation with the president.

The parliament session was held in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Lawmakers in the Gaza Strip joined in via a video link. Israel has rejected requests to allow Hamas legislators to cross its borders.

Source: REUTERS

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