Abbas to head interim Palestinian government

DOHA: Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas is to head an interim consensus government under a deal signed with Hamas on Monday, ending a long-running disagreement over the post that stalled Palestinian reconciliation.

The accord signed in Qatar was welcomed by officials from both rival Palestinian movements Hamas and Fatah, but Israel warned Abbas to choose between reconciliation with Hamas and making peace with the Jewish state.

The full line-up of the interim national consensus government, which will supervise the run-up to long-delayed presidential and legislative elections, is to be announced in Cairo next week at a meeting of all the Palestinian factions.

The deal was sealed by Fatah head Abbas and Khaled Meshaal, head of the Islamist movement Hamas, at a ceremony in Doha in the presence of Qatar's emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani.

The so-called “Doha Declaration” is the latest attempt by the rival movements to implement a reconciliation deal signed last April.

The declaration calls for a government of “independent technocrats” to oversee reconstruction efforts in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip and to “facilitate the implementation of presidential and parliamentary elections.”

AFP