Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Palestinian prime minister designate Ismail Haniyeh forged ahead today in efforts to form a national unity government that can appease rival factions and end a punishing 11-month long Western aid freeze.
Haniyeh, who resigned late Thursday only to be re-commissioned by his long-term rival president Mahmoud Abbas to form a unity administration, said he hopes to form a new broad-based government within three weeks.
The incoming Palestinian government and its stance on key conditions are likely to top Monday’s three-way talks between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Abbas and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Keen to allay concerns in the West, which boycotts Haniyeh’s Hamas movement as a terrorist group, the moderate Abbas has stressed that the question of negotiations with Israel will remain his exclusive domain.
Israel, meanwhile, continued to express scepticism about Abbas’ power-sharing agreement with Hamas, ahead of the first meeting between Abbas and Olmert since December.
