 |
|
||
 |
|||
 |
 |
 |
   | 
| |||||||||||||||||||||
Hamas to present Cabinet names to Abbas
GAZA CITY (CNN) -- Hamas leaders plan to meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Gaza on Sunday night to discuss the lineup of their proposed Palestinian Cabinet. The group had been expected to announce its entire Cabinet on Saturday and put the list up to a vote of confidence in the Palestinian Legislative Council on Monday. But the leaders said they needed to first present the slate to Abbas, who must OK the body. "There are people, partners, colleagues who are still thinking and debating among themselves whether they would like to join us or not," said Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas leader designated to become Palestinian Authority prime minister. "I hope their response would be positive, and they would be able to join us in this government," he added. Among the groups he's waiting to hear from is the left-wing Palestinian militant group, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, or PFLP. "We are still waiting for a final answer before our meeting with the president." Haniyeh said he hoped the meeting with Abbas will generate "a satisfactory outcome to this Cabinet." No Palestinian faction, including Abbas' once-dominant Fatah party, has agreed to join a Hamas-led government. Chief among the differences in agendas is the recognition of previous agreements, like the Oslo Accords, signed with Israel, which Hamas does not recognize. Hamas' charter calls for Israel's destruction, and the group has steadfastly rebuffed international pressure to change its policies and to renounce violence. Some Palestinians are thought to be reluctant to join a government led by a hard-line group regarded as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union and Israel. At a news conference Saturday, Haniyeh said he respects the positions of some factions not to join the government. In the January 25 elections, Hamas won 74 of 132 seats in the Palestinian parliament and can form a government without having any coalition partners. However, Haniyeh has said Hamas wants the participation of other parties to deal with its agenda of improving the daily lives of Palestinians and keeping money flowing for salaries, infrastructure maintenance and economic development. Earlier Saturday, Hamas announced the designees -- all longtime Hamas members -- for three Cabinet spots. They were Mahmoud al-Zahar as foreign minister, Said al-Siyam as interior minister and Umar Abed al-Razek as finance minister. He said he won't go into further details on the Cabinet until he meets with Abbas. They also met Friday night. Haniyeh said hours of painstaking meetings have been spent with different factions in recent weeks to develop a coalition government comprising the right people in the right jobs with a common goal. "We have no doubt that we will succeed, and we have no doubt that we will succeed in carrying our responsibility and managing the Palestinian affairs," he said. CNN's Ari Bell in Jerusalem contributed to this report 
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|
| © 2007 Cable News Network LP, LLLP. A Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved. Terms under which this service is provided to you. Read our privacy guidelines. Contact us. Site Map. |
|
External sites open in new window; not endorsed by CNN.com
Pay service with live and archived video. 
