Roundup: Palestinians pessimistic over forming coalition government

Many Palestinian officials and analysts were pessimistic over the formation of a national unity government to replace incumbent Hamas-led one despite the so- called progress reported by local media.

During the past few days, local media, quoting senior officials, have been reporting that tangible progress was achieved in terms of forming a coalition in an attempt to lift a siege imposed on the Palestinian territories.

Several Palestinian officials unanimously underlined that talks were underway to form a coalition government, but none of them was able to specify a timetable for the formation of the government.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called Prime Minister Ismail Haneya, who is based in Gaza, to discuss progress that had been achieved through dialogue to form the new government.

Haneya, also a senior Hamas official, said there was "an internal unanimous agreement to intensify talks to draw up outlines of the upcoming government."

"All efforts are ongoing to find a solution to the current crisis and form a national unity government based on the Prisoners ' Document of National Accordance," he said.

The prime minister, meanwhile, underlined that the new administration "would dedicate all its efforts to serving the Palestinian people and breaking up the siege on them."

Mohammed Awad, secretary-general of the Hamas-led cabinet, said that moves to form a unity government were continuing, adding the Palestinian presidency institution was also playing a role in reaching an agreement on a new government.

However, Awad declined to give a specific date or time limit, saying "we should not specify time and all conferees should have enough time for talks."

Awad clarified that Hamas will lead any upcoming new government because the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) won a landslide victory in the January parliamentary elections.

But, Palestinian observers began to ask if the ruling Hamas movement is becoming moderate and would accept the Arab Peace Initiative and international resolutions.

Some even feared that all the progress would be obstructed by Hamas due to its refusal to recognize Israel and renounce violence.

Sallah Abdel Qadder, a political analyst, said, "All we hear about these days are that progress has been achieved, but we still don't see anything on the ground."

Yasser Abed Rabou, member of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), denied that the crisis was going to be resolved.

He termed optimistic remarks made by Hamas officials as "a kind of temporization to go back to zero."

"These remarks are aimed at anesthetizing the people and they are untrue," he said, adding "there were many disagreements over forming the government."

He warned that the crisis will continue if Hamas remains adamant on its political stance.

Numerous deals and mediations have failed so far in bridging gaps between President Abbas and Hamas over the establishment of a coalition government aimed at lifting an international boycott on the Hamas-led government.

Key donors cut direct aid to the Palestinians after Hamas took the rein of the government in late March, plunging the fledgeless administration into grave political and financial crises.

Three demands -- recognizing Israel, renouncing violence and accepting previous peace deals with Israel, were set out for the Hamas-led government to receive an international fund.

However, Hamas, calling for the destruction of Israel, has refused to soften its political stance, thus stalling talks between Abbas and Hamas leaders to form a national unity government.

Source: Xinhua