Sources told the local independent news agency Maan that Abbas will have two deputies — Hamas’ Ismail Haniyeh or an independent figure to be chosen by the group and Salam Fayyad. The two deputies will have the same powers except that Fayyad will also hold the post of minister of finance in the government. The sources explained that this would prevent the imposition of a financial blockade on the Palestinian Authority.
According to the sources, Maj. Gen. Hazem Atallah, police chief in the West Bank, will be the interior minister with responsibility to reform the security apparatus in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank until fresh presidential and legislative elections are held.
Salah Al-Bardwil, a senior Hamas official, said Wednesday that delegations from Fatah and Hamas movements will visit the Egyptian capital of Cairo Saturday to start discussions on forming the unity government.
Al-Bardwil said committees with members from Egypt and Qatar had been formed to follow up on the reconciliation agreement that was signed between the factions last week in Egypt.
Azzam Al-Ahmed, a member of Fatah Central Committee and head of its team to the Cairo talks, told the Voice of Palestine Radio that both Hamas and Fatah have agreed to postpone the local elections that were scheduled for July. The last round of local elections took place in 2005.
Meanwhile, Abbas has asked his party officials who left the Gaza Strip after the violent Hamas takeover in 2006 to go back and help rebuild the movement there. Abbas was quoted by the local media as telling the party’s Revolutionary Council that he will not be running for a new term in the 2012 presidential elections.
Palestinian analysts said that Fatah and Hamas still have to overcome mutual suspicions, significant differences of opinion and practicalities on the ground before the final shape of a unity government emerges. They also expect the Israeli government to try to jeopardize the Cairo agreement by convincing the international community, particularly Western donor countries, to freeze financial support for the Palestinian Authority.
On Wednesday, the authority appealed to Arab countries to pay the salaries of 155,000 government workers after Israel decided to suspend the transfer of tax funds to the PA.
"We say to our Arab brothers: save us. We need your help more than any time before. It is the moment of truth," Prime Minister Fayyad told a news briefing in Ramallah.
