Hamas Forms Government Without Moderates

AP on Yahoo ^ | 3/18/06 | Ibrahim Barzak - ap

[NormsRevenge]

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Hamas said Saturday it had completed the formation of its government without succeeding to bring in moderate parties, a step that looked likely to only increase the chances of international isolation.

The narrow government to be presented to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at a meeting Sunday could bring on crippling economic sanctions that the World Bank has warned would devastate the poverty-stricken Palestinian territories.

Abbas will approve the Hamas government — which does not include his pragmatic Fatah Party, presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rdeneh said.

But he will warn the Islamic militant group, which is sworn to Israel's destruction, that their refusal to moderate their hard-line positions could "get them into trouble," the spokesman said.

Hamas' Cabinet lineup has not been made public, but officials in the group said it would hold onto key posts including the foreign, interior and finance ministries.

Abbas was elected separately last year to a four-year term and wields considerable authority. However, he cannot impose his own Cabinet lineup on Hamas, which swept January parliament elections and controls an absolute majority in the legislature. Aides said Abbas does not want to cause a full-blown political crisis.

"Abu Mazen will not place obstacles before the Hamas government," Abu Rdeneh said, referring to the name by which Abbas is widely known.

The Palestinian parliament will not be asked to approve the new Hamas government until after Israel's March 28 election.

In another development, the Israeli army opened an investigation into the killing of an 8-year-old girl who was shot to death while riding in a car to have stitches removed in the West Bank.

At a news conference Saturday, Hamas' Prime Minister-designate Ismail Haniyeh did not give details of his party's government platform or the names of the new Cabinet ministers, saying he would wait until after his meeting with Abbas to make the information public.

"Following the deep consultations with all the factions, the movement has decided to move a step forward and to form the government," Haniyeh said. "The movement decided to leave the door open before all the factions that have not given their final decision, like our brothers in the PFLP."

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a small, radical PLO faction, is not expected to join Hamas' government. On Saturday, PFLP lawmaker Jamil Majdalawi said differences remained between the two groups.

Israel and the international community have said they will not have contact with a Hamas-led government unless the movement recognizes Israel, accepts previous Israeli-Palestinian peace agreements and denounces violence. Hamas has rejected these conditions.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said the international community must be united in demanding Hamas accept the conditions, which have U.N. backing.

"If they continue to reject the international community's benchmarks they will find the Palestinian Authority will increasingly become a pariah regime in the international community," Regev said.

The Palestinian Authority is highly dependent on foreign aid to prop up its economy, which has suffered a near fatal blow during five years of fighting with Israel.

Since Hamas' January victory, Israel has suspended monthly transfers of tax revenue it collects for the Palestinians each month. It says it doesn't want the money — which totaled $740 million last year — to reach militants.

Hamas' proposed Cabinet lineup was partially presented to The Associated Press by Hamas and PFLP officials who insisted on anonymity because the list is not official.

Mahmoud Zahar, a hard-line Hamas firebrand, will almost definitely be named foreign minister, they said.

Said Siyam, a popular Hamas lawmaker from Gaza, has been tapped for the Interior and Civil Affairs ministries, which control three of the Palestinian's five security forces and are responsible for contacts with Israel's security services, the officials said.

Siyam, who is considered a relative moderate, was among hundreds of militants deported by Israel to south Lebanon in 1992. He recently joined a Hamas delegation to Moscow, where they met top Russian officials.

If the PFLP decides to join the Hamas government, it will be awarded the Finance Ministry, the officials said. If, as expected, the PFLP stays out of the government, Omar Abdel-Razek, a professor at Nablus' a-Najah University, will be named Finance Minister. Abdel-Razek was released from an Israeli prison just a few days ago.

Israeli troops left the West Bank village of Yamoun Saturday after a failed overnight arrest raid targeting fugitives the army believed were holed up in a house.

The girl, Akbar Zayed, was killed at the start of the operation late Friday when soldiers fired at a car she was riding in with her older brother and uncle, Palestinian witnesses and relatives said. The witnesses said the soldiers were dressed in civilian clothes and fired without warning.

The army said it was investigating the killing of the girl.

[NormsRevenge]

Hamas' designated prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, talks to journalists after announcing the formation of his Cabinet on Saturday March 18, 2006 in Gaza City. The government excludes other Palestinian factions and increases the chance that it will be isolated by Israel and the United States. Hamas will keep the key portfolios, including the Foreign Ministry and the Interior Ministry, in its hands and give lower-level postings to technocrats, officials said. Haniyeh said he would present his Cabinet to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at a meeting on Sunday.(AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

[lexington minuteman 1775]

Gee, no moderates. This should be fun to watch!

[West Coast Conservative]

"From this day forward, any nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism will be regarded by the United States as a hostile regime."
-President George W. Bush, September 20, 2001.

[ARealMothersSonForever]

which does not include his pragmatic Fatah Party

Pragmatism is soooo over rated. This line was good for a chuckle. The europeans will officially recognize Hamas within 6 months. And our State department will follow suit, after the images of "suffering" are broadcast worldwide.

[KarlInOhio]

A Palestinian moderate is one that want to push the Israelis into the sea.

A Palistinian extremist is one who would strap on a bomb and wade after the Israelis just to make his point.

[river rat]

How could there exist a "moderate" in an extremist terror organization?

Read the Koran....
There are NO "moderate" Muslims...only those that haven't yet decided to follow the dictates of the Koran.

Semper Fi

[rbg81]

Very well stated. It would be funny if it weren't true.

Personally, I don't see how we can say (with a straight face) we're fighting a "War on Terror" while we're funding this vermin under the table with humanitarian aid.

[R.W.Ratikal]

A moderate Hamas is a Muslim terrorist temporarily out of amminution.

[Paul C. Jesup]

Pragmatism is soooo over rated. This line was good for a chuckle. The europeans will officially recognize Hamas within 6 months. And our State department will follow suit, after the images of "suffering" are broadcast worldwide.

You honestly think that Hamas is going to be able to maintain control for the next 6 months. Hamas screwed over the Fatah Party. Most of the Palestinian police/paramilitary forces are Fatah Party members.

Civil War is going to break out there.

[monkeywrench]

Yup. The blue helmets will have to go in. LOL!

[AGreatPer]

Israel, get your kimo wepons ready to kill this cancer.

[tet68]

The girl, Akbar Zayed, was killed at the start of the operation late Friday when soldiers fired at a car she was riding in with her older brother and uncle, Palestinian witnesses and relatives said. The witnesses said the soldiers were dressed in civilian clothes and fired without warning.

Wait! If they were in civilian clothes then how did they
know they were soldiers....

[HardStarboard]

Cut them off at the pocketbook - to hell with the bleeding hearts that say it will hurt average Palestineians.

Too much of our money ends up funding terror - we know that what Hamas does.

[ARealMothersSonForever]

You honestly think that Hamas is going to be able to maintain control for the next 6 months. Hamas screwed over the Fatah Party. Most of the Palestinian police/paramilitary forces are Fatah Party members.

Yes. They have been colluding for years. It will be very difficult to determine the exact moment that civil war breaks out. If one defines 40% unemployment, government instability, no civil rights policies, lack of a common currency, and poor relations with the international community at large as constituting civil war; it has been there since 1967. America did the correct thing in not interfering, and allowing the "Palestinians" to go whole hog. They voted and chose. A result of that may be international isolation. It is NOT up to America to fix their mistake. Kind of like it should not have been Syria in Lebanon.

[SJackson]

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