Hamas may accept forming technocrat government: spokesman

The ruling Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) may accept forming a technocrat government under certain conditions, a spokesman for the movement in parliament said Saturday.

Salah al-Bardawil, spokesman of Hamas lawmakers, told reporters in Gaza that one of these criteria was that the new technocrat government should have a clear and agreeable political platform.

"The political platform has to be agreed upon by all factions and political powers and the Prisoners' Document of National Accordance must be the reference for the new government," said al- Bardawil.

"The technocrat government should get regional and international guarantees that economical and political sieges imposed on our people would be lifted and all impasses would be solved in case the government is formed," al-Bardawil added.

However, Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haneya, also a senior official of Hamas, told prayers Friday afternoon in central Gaza Strip that he rejected the formation of a technocrat government and would prefer a national unity one.

One of his senior aide voiced the rejection on Saturday, saying that "The only solution for the crisis is to form a national unity government based on the prisoners document of national accordance. "

In reference to the contradicting statements of Hamas leaders concerning the formation of a technocrat government, Ahmed Abdel Rahman, spokesman for President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement, said "this indicates that there is an internal split in Hamas movement."

Abdel Rahman expected that Abbas and Haneya would meet soon in Gaza to overcome differences related to the formation of a new government.

Source: Xinhua