Hamas may join unity govt - but not Fayyad's

27/02/2011

GAZA CITY (Ma’an) -- Hamas is willing to join a Palestinian unity government, just not one headed by Salam Fayyad, an official said Friday.

Yousif Rezqa, an adviser to Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh in Gaza, told Ma'an that Hamas was no opposed to joining a government but has reservations about who would lead it as well as its national agenda.

Palestinian factions would not accept Fayyad as the head of government because he is not affiliated to a major party, Rezqa said.

He suggested implementing the Mecca Agreement, a Saudi-backed 2007 deal, never implemented, between Fatah and Hamas to end deadly clashes in the West Bank and Gaza.

Fayyad's proposal, which comes as he seeks to form a new government, would not vastly change the situation on the ground. But it could pave the way for reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas.

Longtime bitter rivals, the tensions between the two groups boiled over in 2007, a year after Hamas won legislative elections. Bloody clashes between the two saw Fatah ousted from the Gaza Strip.

The West Bank, which is under the control of President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party, has been effectively cut off from the Gaza Strip ever since.

Rezqa said he heard about Fayyad's plan from new reports, and no one has made a formal proposal. Hamas has no regular contact with Fatah, he added.

Repeated attempts at reconciliation between the groups have led nowhere, and the collapse of the Egyptian regime of Hosni Mubarak, which played a key role in reconciliation efforts, has created new uncertainty.

The issue of control of the security forces has been a key stumbling block in each round of reconciliation talks, with both sides refusing to cede authority over their security apparatus.

Hamas and Fatah have carried out periodic arrests of each other's members, often holding detainees without charge or trial and routinely trading allegations of prisoner abuse.

Hamas has responded to the latest calls for unity with suspicion.

Source: Ma'an News Agency.
Link: http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=363352.