Hamas censures new West Bank cabinet

“Any reformation of the government in the West Bank, or even any cabinet reshuffle, is wrong,” Barhoum said on Wednesday after a new government in the West Bank was sworn in by acting Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas.

“This policy will not benefit the Palestinian people, because this government is not the choice of the Palestinian people and it does not have the support of the Palestinian Legislative Council.”

The 24-member West Bank government has 11 new members, with Salam Fayyad retaining the position of Palestinian Authority caretaker prime minister. Fayyad, however, quit as the PA finance minister under the new government.

The formation of a new government in the West Bank comes despite a meeting between Hamas Political Bureau chief Khaled Meshaal and Mahmoud Abbas, who also serves as the leader of the rival Palestinian faction of Fatah, in the Qatari capital, Doha on February 5, where the two sides discussed the formation of a Palestinian unity government.

Palestinian officials said after the Doha meeting that Hamas agreed to a Qatari proposal that recommended Abbas as the prime minister of the future unity government.

Barhoum also stated that Fatah officials “are avoiding the Doha announcement” with the formation of the new West Bank government.

Hamas and Fatah signed a reconciliation deal on May 4, 2011, which provides for the creation of a joint caretaker Palestinian government.

On May 2, Meshaal met with an official of the Fatah movement in the Egyptian capital, Cairo. A Palestinian official, whose name was not mentioned in the news reports, said two hours of talks between the two sides produced “nothing new.”

Meanwhile, Abbas said in an address to the new cabinet on Wednesday that it should put high on the agenda municipal elections in the West Bank.

HSN/JR/MA

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