Ramallah - President Mahmoud Abbas' decision to form a new
transitional government follows years of stalemate between the rival
Palestinian Fatah and Hamas movements.
Following are highlights leading up to and consolidating the power
struggle:
January 2005:
Abbas wins presidential elections, held some two months after the
death of late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
January 2006:
Separate parliamentary elections see the radical Islamist Hamas
unexpectedly beating Abbas' secular, mainstream Fatah, ending years
of traditional Fatah domination over Palestinian politics.
Hamas wins mainly on an anti-corruption ticket, but its political
platform conflicts with that of Abbas, chosen on a pro-peace
programme calling for a two-state solution to the conflict with
Israel.
March 2006:
Hamas forms government headed by Ismail Haniya. Fatah refuses
calls to join. International community boycotts the government over
its refusal to renounce violence, recognize Israel's right to exist
and accept past interim peace agreements.
June 2007:
Fighting between Fatah and Hamas gunmen in Gaza escalates into a
systematic and bloody assault by Hamas on the headquarters throughout
the strip of Fatah-dominated security forces answering to Abbas.
Abbas loses control of Gaza and responds by sacking Haniya, who
ignores the dismissal. Abbas appoints Fayyad, an independent and
internationally respected economist, to head an emergency government
based in Ramallah. The result is a de-facto split between Gaza and
the West Bank.
January 2009:
Abbas' term as president ends, but he vows to stay in power until
parliamentary and presidential elections can be held simultaneously
as per Palestinian law. His supporters argue the presidential
elections in which he was chosen were held early due to Arafat's
death. Critics, not least Hamas, deny Abbas' legitimacy.
February 2009:
The severing of contacts is all but complete. Egypt pushes the
parties to hold reconciliation talks, the first round of which starts
in February. The aim is to create a unity government that would pave
the way for simultaneous presidential and parliamentary elections
before the term of term of the current Hamas-dominated parliament in
January 2010.
March 2009:
Fayyad resigns, hoping this will add pressure to the unity talks,
but the stalemate remains.
May 2009:
A fifth round of talks in Cairo ends without a breakthrough. A new
round is set for July.
Abbas appoints Fayyad at the head of a broader government,
believing he cannot hold on without a functioning cabinet until then.
About half the seats are given to Fatah, but its parliamentary bloc,
angry that not one of its own but rather Fayyad was chosen as prime
minister, calls for a boycott.
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