Palestinian PM designate begins work on new unity cabinet
Keen to appease concerns in the West, which boycotts Haniya's Hamas movement, moderate Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on Friday stressed that the question of negotiations with Israel will remain his exclusive domain.
"I hope to present the new government to the Legislative Council (parliament) before the initial expiry date in three weeks," Haniya announced during a sermon he delivered at Friday prayers in a Gaza City mosque.
"From tomorrow we are going to proceed with consultations with the factions, the parliamentary groups and the independents to form the unity government."
A senior official in his office said contacts with the various parliamentary representations had already begun overnight.
Haniya resigned, along with the rest of his Hamas-dominated government, late Thursday after 11 turbulent months in power, only to be re-commissioned by his long-term rival Abbas with forming a unity administration.
He has three weeks, with an extra two weeks' grace, to form and win parliamentary approval for a cabinet that Palestinians hope will end infighting that has left 100 people dead since December and a Western aid boycott.
Under the terms of a power-sharing accord signed by Abbas and Hamas supremo Khaled Meshaal in Saudi Arabia on February 8, Hamas will take 10 cabinet posts including Haniya, Abbas's secular Fatah faction six, and others four.
The key finance ministry will go to the internationally respected Salam Fayad from the Third Way party, and the foreign ministry to independent MP Ziad Abu Amr, a moderate who was elected with Hamas backing.
The administration, which will put rivals Fatah and Hamas in the same cabinet for the first time, seeks to end the political and financial crisis that has gripped the territories since Haniya's Hamas-led government took office on March 28.
Israel and the West boycotted the government after Hamas took office following a stunning victory in January 2006 elections, citing the government's refusal to recognize Israel, renounce violence or abide by past peace accords.
But the White House made clear that U.S. demands remained the same for ending the boycott when the new government is formed.
"Israel needs a negotiating partner that acknowledges Israel's right to exist, renounces the use of violence against Israel and also abides by previous international agreements involving the Palestinians and Israel," spokesman Tony Snow said.
Envoys from the four main sponsors of the stalled Middle East process -- the European Union, Russia, United Nations and United States -- met in Beit-ul- Moqaddas Friday ahead of a ministerial-level meeting next Wednesday.
Talks focus how to respond to the Saudi agreement and the preparations for a unity cabinet as well as the question of future assistance to the Palestinians in the light of the developments, diplomatic sources said.
Haniya said that lifting the boycott of the Palestinian administration would be among the priorities of the new cabinet.
Abbas read from a decree, charging Haniya as the new premier with respecting international resolutions and agreements signed by the Palestine Liberation Organization, which observers say amounts to implicit recognition of Israel.
In the face of the Western misgivings, Abbas told Palestinian television late Thursday he could "not promise our people that the boycott will be lifted".
"We are going to fight for its end but there are still obstacles," he said, referring to the three demands leveled by the European Union as well as the United States.
He emphasized that "negotiations and the political question in general are the prerogative of the PLO, therefore in my hands and the hands of the PLO executive committee".
He said he was optimistic about a trilateral summit on Monday with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice which the Americans hopes will break new ground in reviving frozen peace talks.