RAMALLAH: The Fatah parliamentary bloc torpedoed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ efforts to form a new government headed by the Western-backed Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, Palestinian sources said yesterday.
The sources said that declaration of a new government was delayed due to differences which emerged in the last minute between Fatah and Fayyad over the lineup.
The Palestinian news agency Ma’an quoted a source close to Fatah as saying that the movement demanded Abbas both replace Fayyad and to postpone the formation of a new government until the upcoming round of internal reconciliation dialogue in Cairo.
The key stumbling block remains the political program of a Palestinian unity government that would be in power until elections are held in January 2010. The international community says it will only deal with a Palestinian government that recognizes Israel, a concession Hamas is unwilling to make.
According to the source, “some Fatah officials rejected the candidates and this delayed the announcement of the government.”
Most of the controversial candidates were members of Fayyad-led Third Road party which was founded before he joined the parliamentary elections in 2006. The source said that Fatah feared that these members would boost Fayyad’s influence on the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority.
