GAZA CITY, 1 November 2006 — A wealthy Palestinian businessman speaking in the name of the local private sector called yesterday for an interim government of experts. “We propose that a government of experts be put in place to be made up of seven to 10 people,” Munib Al-Masri, founder of the Palestinian Development and Investment Company (Padico), told a news conference in Ramallah.
He said such a government could remain in place “for one year” in order to give Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party and the ruling Islamist movement Hamas time to agree on an as yet elusive unity Cabinet.
“A government of experts would not be a substitute for a national unity Cabinet when this is ready,” he said.
The businessman said a technocratic Cabinet should focus on securing services, putting an end to an international boycott leveled against the Hamas-led government for the last seven months, and reviving the economy.
“We want a government able to satisfy the international community and to persuade it” to review its policy, he added.
Masri said political affairs, particularly the question of talks with Israel would be the domain of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the Palestinian Authority presidency, both headed by Abbas.
The elderly businessman, who is frequently cited as a possible candidate to head an interim professional government, said, however, that he would prefer to see such a Cabinet made up of younger people.
Meanwhile, Damascus-based officials from Hamas have arrived in Cairo to hold talks with Egyptian officials on a prisoner exchange with Israel, airport sources said yesterday.
The delegation, headed by the group’s representative in Syria Imad Al-Alami, arrived in Cairo late Monday for expected talks with Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman.
Egypt has acted as a mediator since the crisis sparked by the June 25 capture of an Israeli soldier in the southern Gaza Strip.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit said yesterday that contacts between Israel and the Palestinians which had stalled due to the capture of the soldier could move forward as a result of the visit.
Also yesterday, the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate condemned the abduction “carried by a small category” acting “beyond the law and traditions of the Palestinian people” of Spanish aid worker Roberto Vila.
“This heinous crime and the ongoing series in the kidnapping of guests, activists and foreign journalists is a very dangerous phenomenon in our society against the struggling Palestinian freedom of opinion and expression and freedom of the press,” said a press statement from the journalists’ syndicate.
— With input from agencies
