West Asia: New Palestinian Unity Government

 -DR. ABDUL RUFF COLACHAL 

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At long last, a new 17-member Palestinian unity government has been sworn in, marking a key step towards ending a major rift between factions in the West Bank and Gaza. The government, comprising technocrats, was agreed by Hamas and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party. The two sides have governed separately since Hamas, which won elections in 2006, ousted Fatah from Gaza in 2007.

The new government comprises politically independent ministers and will be tasked with organising elections to be held within six months. It is headed by incumbent Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah. Seventeen technocrats claiming no political alignment will be sworn-in to serve as an interim unity cabinet in Ramallah on June 02. Although at least eight ministers are hold-overs from the current government, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is standing by his insistence that all members of the new cabinet fit the “non-aligned” description, even Foreign Minister Riyad Al-Malki. There have been reports of last-minute disagreements between Fatah and Hamas including a dispute over the disposition of the prisoners affairs ministry. Swear-in time is set for 1 p.m. at the Muqata, the Presidential Compound, in Ramallah.

Palestinians have sworn in a national consensus government, despite officials continuing to disagree over plans to close the Prisoner Affairs Ministry. The ceremony at which the new cabinet took its oath was held on Monday in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah.

President Mahmoud Abbas praised the "end" of Palestinian division. "Today, with the formation of a national consensus government, we announce the end of a Palestinian division that has greatly damaged our national case," Abbas said at his Ramallah headquarters after the new cabinet was sworn in. "We hail the national consensus government, which represents all the Palestinian people," Sami Abu Zuhri, Hamas spokesman, told AFP news agency.

A statement from Hamdallah's office denounced Netanyahu's remarks, calling them part of a campaign intended to "cement Israel's occupation by all means".

Israel pulled its troops out of Gaza in 2005 in ”disengagement", but still controls the borders, sea and airspace.

The USA and the EU, which are the largest donors to Palestinian agencies, have indicated they are willing to give the new unity government a chance. The USA, which considers Hamas a "terrorist group", has said it will not make any decision on support until it has seen who is in the government.

Hamas party won the national poll in 2006. When Hamas and Fatah formed a coalition government in 2006, the US and other Western nations withheld millions of dollars of aid to the Palestinians because of Hamas' participation. USA and Israel coerced PLO chief Abbas to derecognize the Palestine government governed by Hamas party on the basis of democratic elections and they engineer a civil war in Palestine where Fatah and Hamas people began killing each other. USA, its allies, Israel enjoyed the bloodshed inside Palestine.

The Hamas-led government was dissolved by President Abbas in June 2007 in a move not recognised by Hamas, a day after Hamas forces ousted Fatah from the Gaza Strip. Hamas has continued to govern in Gaza, and the Palestinian Authority (PA) under President Abbas in the West Bank.

The enduring split has been deeply unpopular among Palestinians but previous reconciliation efforts have failed.

However, weakness of Abbas and Hamas' isolation in Gaza and the failure of peace talks with an arrogant Israel to produce tangible results created fresh impetus for both sides to heal the divisions.

Hamas has controlled the occupied Gaza Strip since 2007, when it removed Fatah after winning an election. Fatah controls areas of the West Bank. The factions agreed in April to form a unity government, a move that led to Israel freezing US-brokered talks with Palestinian leaders.

A day earlier, Abbas said: "Israel wants to punish us for agreeing with Hamas on this government," he said, adding that the Netanyahu regime would "boycott the government the moment it is announced".

A Palestinian official said that Israel had denied requests by three Gaza-based Palestinians, who are expected to be named as ministers, to attend Monday's ceremony.

Israel suspended crisis-hit peace talks with the Palestinians in April in response to the announcement of the reconciliation deal. Israel has said it would cease all but security co-ordination with the Palestinians if the government was formed.

Israel, a modern fascist regime in Mideast, refuses to recognize the new Palestine government and has urged USA also to ignore the Palestine government. While Israel has been adamant in rejecting the government set to be sworn in on the basis that the inclusion of Hamas, which refuses to moderate its calls for the destruction of the Jewish state, poisons the entire government, Israel says it will not deal with a Palestinian government backed by Hamas, which is sworn to Israel's destruction.

Washington has been far more ambiguous in its position. Kerry was said to have again expressed his concern that the new government must embrace the “Quartet principles” – renouncing violence; recognition of Israel; acceptance of previous commitments – but appears to be leaning toward accepting Abbas’s reading on the issue: that Hamas does not need to do so as long as the government in which it sits does so.

Kerry and Abbas are scheduled to meet in Amman on Wednesday. Kerry reportedly told Israeli Binyamin Netanyahu that the US will not immediately bestow recognition upon the new Palestinian government. Netanyahu issued a plea to the international community “not to rush to recognize a Palestinian government which has Hamas as part of it and which is dependent on Hamas. The terrorist Zionist regime says Hamas is a terrorist organization that calls for Israel's destruction, and the international community must not embrace it.

Israeli attitude would not bolster peace, it would only strengthen terror.

Israel designated Hamas a terrorist organization so as to claim legitimacy for the crimes Israeli military has been committing in Palestine. President Abbas has said the new government will abide by previous agreements. by and other countries, Hamas opposes the peace talks with  a fanatic Israel because talks would not  give any real solution.

The US, which has sponsored the Israel-Palestinian peace talks, has also expressed concern over any Hamas role in the new government. In a phone call with President Abbas, US Secretary of State John Kerry said the new government must "commit to the principles of non-violence, recognition of the State of Israel, and acceptance of previous agreements with it"

US Secretary of State John Kerry has remained in close contact with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas as the clock ticks down to the initiation of a unity government that will, for the first time since 2006, include both the Hamas and Fatah factions.

Palestinian officials reported there was a dispute on Sunday, following Abbas's plans to dissolve the Prisoner Affairs Ministry and transfer responsibility for prisoner issues to a committee outside the control of the cabinet.

Earlier on Sunday, Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli prime minister, gave warning that the Hamas-Fatah deal to mend ties would strengthen "terrorism" in the Middle East. "I call on all responsible elements in the international community not to rush to recognize a Palestinian government which has Hamas as part of it and which is dependent on Hamas," he said.

Abbas has promised the cabinet will accept international calls to renounce violence and recognise Israel's right to exist. Abu-Rudeineh said the new government would also abide by Abbas’ political program "which aims at achieving an independent state of Palestine with Jerusalem as its capital."  The presidential spokesperson, Nabil Abu-Rudeineh, said the international community had already encouraged and welcomed Abbas's move "aimed at the unification of the country and the Palestinian people.

OBSERVATIONS

Peace is not happening in talks of Palestinians with Israel. Twenty years ago, when the Palestinian-Israeli negotiations were fresh and young, millions from both sides thought a peace agreement, at long last, was going to make their lives much better.  It didn't happen. Twenty years of off-on talks, punctuated by violence, have not worked. In many ways, Israelis and Palestinians are further apart than they were when the peace process started.

Israel has acquired a nation illegally in Mideast with help from USA-UK terror twins but Palestinians have no  real state. Israel criminally plays with the vulnerability and weaknesses of the besieged Palestine masses. USA just promotes Zionist fascist regime as part of global  imperialist  network

For two decades now the world's favorite peace plan has been the 'two state solution'. However, at one point it appeared by two state solution, the USA and Israel were meant not Israel and Palestine a but two states within Palestine, West bank and Gaza Strip and they had expected these tow factions to kill each other, making easier for  Israeli criminal regime and it sponsors from USA and Europe to create greater Israel.

It assumes that the conflict is about territory. Two sides went to war over a single piece of land, and the idea is that if they can agree to split it they have a chance of living in peace as neighbors. But negotiators, helped by a variety of foreigners, have been trying for twenty years, and they have not made a deal. Israelis and Palestinians have heard the arguments so often, and seen so many failures, that they have stopped listening.

All peace talks have been systematically failed by Israel and deliberately and USA is happy about that.

Neither Israel nor USA not the so-called fanatic Quartet is sincere to  end Zionist crimes and create Palestine state.

The new Palestinian Unity Government is the step in the right direction, though it took very long for the Fatah and Hamas to realize the Zionist terror trap they have been in for years. Now they need to work for peaceful existence by holding democratic elections in the country and elect the new government that would govern entire Palestine.

What Israel or USA feels and thinks should not be the concern of the Palestinians. They have failed to kill all Palestinians and steal their remaining lands for lavishly accommodating Jews in illegal settlements

Palestinians must proceed for full UN status from UN as their key objective now.