Abbas Accepts Cabinet List

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas yesterday accepted a ministerial list proposed by Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas, paving the way for a unity government that could end bloody factional violence.

Haniyeh told reporters the government list would be submitted to parliament for a confidence vote tomorrow.

“I handed the president the names of brothers, ministers of the unity government, and he thankfully accepted it,” Haniyeh said in a joint news conference with Fatah leader Abbas.

Haniyeh said if the parliament approved the cabinet lineup it might be submitted to Abbas the same day so that the long-awaited government could start work.

Israel said it would boycott the government, just as it had shunned its Hamas-led predecessor, because it had not recognized the Jewish state, renounced violence or accepted past peace agreements, as demanded by the Quartet of Middle East mediators.

“We hope that the international community will stand steadfast behind its own principles and refuse to give legitimacy or recognition to this extreme government,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said.

Haniyeh did not give details of the government’s program but said a priority would be to “end the security anarchy” that has claimed more than 90 Palestinian lives since December.

Palestinians hope the deal will end fighting between secular Fatah and Islamist Hamas, and ease a crippling Western aid embargo of the Palestinian Authority, though it is unclear whether either goal will be accomplished.

Agencies

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