Hamas government to ‘resign’ to form coalition

PALESTINIAN negotiators last night said a deal on a unity government could be days away, but that it might be delayed by difficulties in working out a parallel prisoner swap with Israel.

The Palestinian president and premier, heading the rival Fatah and Hamas factions, have been attempting to wrap up the deal this week with hopes of lifting the economic sanctions and paving the way for a resumption of long-frozen talks with Israel.

The negotiations have been dragging on for months.

The two men, President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah and Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas, made great progress at a late-night meeting on Thursday.

Israel and Western donor nations imposed the sanctions on the Palestinian

Government after Hamas won legislative elections earlier this year. Despite widespread hardship caused by the sanctions, Hamas has rejected international calls to renounce violence, recognise Israel or accept past peace agreements.

Mr Abbas, a moderate, has been pushing Hamas to enter a coalition with Fatah in the hope of ending sanctions. He also hopes the government will endorse a softer position on Israel that will enable him to resume peace talks.

The concept is to replace the Cabinet of Hamas ministers with independent experts linked to, but not members of, the two movements. Abbas and his Palestine Liberation Organisation would be charged with handling peace negotiations, while the Cabinet would deal with daily affairs.

An unidentified senior Palestinian negotiator said yesterday that the current Hamas-led Cabinet would resign within three days to make way for a new unity government.

Ghazi Hamad, spokesman for the current Hamas-led government, said a deal might take a bit longer to reach, but expressed optimism the sides would resolve their differences.

“There is progress,” Mr Hamad said. “I hope in a week we will have the formation of the government.”

Fatah and Hamas officials met in Gaza on Friday to discuss the composition of the new Cabinet. A key sticking point is which party will appoint the next interior minister, who oversees powerful security forces.