Ramallah - Acting Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad
called Wednesday on factions which have announced a boycott of his
newly appointed government to join the cabinet.
'Our hands are stretched out,' the premier told reporters
following the first session of his new, 20-member transitional
government.
The new government was sworn in by Palestinian President Mahmoud
Abbas late Tuesday, as talks between Abbas' Fatah movement and the
rival Hamas organization on forming a unity government were making
little headway.
Fatah's own parliament bloc has announced it will boycott the new
government, as have two other Palestinian Liberation Organization
(PLO) factions - the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
(PFLP) and the Palestinian People's Party, which are the second and
fourth-largest in the PLO respectively.
Fayyad said he had left the door open for them to join, noting the
government could have up to 24 ministers.
'We tried to have a government that is composed of Palestinian
factions to strengthen the government, which is still open to change
and alteration,' he said.
Seven Fatah ministers have joined despite their movement's calls
to boycott the Fayyad government. Fatah is angry that Abbas did not
appoint one of its members as prime minister.
Fayyad, who resigned in March hoping to give a push to the talks
between Fatah and the rival Hamas movement ruling Gaza - aimed at
reaching a transitional unity government that would prepare for new
elections - would nonetheless continue.
'The government is transitional and it will end its work once a
national unity government is formed at a time that should not exceed
the constitutional date for elections,' Fayyad said. That date is
January 25, 2010, when the current term of the Hamas-dominated
parliament expires.
A fifth round of Hamas-Fatah talks, begun in February in the hope
of ending the West Bank-Gaza split of now almost two years, ended
Monday without a breakthrough.
That has prompted Abbas to appoint a new, transitional government,
which he hoped would contain many PLO factions and thus enjoy broader
support. Without Hamas-Fatah agreement, it will be difficult to hold
the presidential and legislative elections in Gaza and the West Bank
by January.
'Every effort should be exerted to create the proper environment
to end the division,' said Fayyad. 'We will work toward rebuilding
Gaza and it is very important to have international pressure on
Israel to end its siege and for the aid committed for Gaza to become
an actuality to help our people in Gaza start this mission.'
He also said that his government will continue on the path of
reforms and institution building in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The new Fayyad government includes seven ministers from his former
caretaker government, seven from Fatah who did not heed the
movement's boycott call, and independents and members of smaller
Palestinian factions.
Fatah, the largest Palestinian political faction, wanted to head
the new government instead of Fayyad, who was previously independent
and now belongs to a new and smaller party.
Abbas, who heads Fatah, has defied the pressure from his
own party, insisting on Fayyad, a favourite of Western
countries, considered reliable and transparent. Fayyad believes he is
the individual best equipped to bring in aid to the Palestinians.
Minister of Interior Abdul Razzak Yehya was replaced by the
governor of Ramallah, Said Abu Ali, who is from Fatah, while Foreign
Minister Riad Malki remained in his post.
The PFLP and the People's Party have said said they will not join
because they wanted Abbas to wait until after the conclusion of
national reconciliation talks with Hamas in July.
They said the announcement of a new government would derail
the reconciliation talks.
Hamas has also slammed Abbas' decision, with spokesman Fawzi
Barhoum in a statement calling it 'premeditated sabotage of the
internal Palestinian dialogue and a threat to its future.'
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