WORLD / Middle East
Abbas, Hamas fail to agree on joint gov't
(AP)
Updated: 2006-11-07 09:57
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - The Palestinian president and prime minister,
heading rival movements, on Monday failed again to agree on a joint
government that might lead to lifting Western sanctions that have
bankrupted their administration - but they planned to keep trying.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, waves to
Palestinian students demonstrating as he leaves after opening an
exhibition in the West Bank town of Ramallah, Monday, Nov. 6, 2006. [AP]
President Mahmoud Abbas, a moderate, and Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of
Hamas met in Gaza for more than two hours. But officials said the talks
ended with no accord on a national unity government made up of
independent experts. Both sides said talks would continue Tuesday; they
would not say what issues remain open.
Mustafa Barghouti, an independent politician playing a key role in the
talks, called the meeting "fruitful." He said, "There was agreement on
some issues, but some issues still need to be discussed."
The talks came as fighting in northern Gaza heated up on the sixth day of
an Israeli offensive. At least seven Palestinians were killed, including
a suicide bomber.
Islamic Jihad released a video of the bomber, identified as Mirvat
Masoud, after she blew herself up, wounding an Israeli soldier. "My dear
mother, I ask you to remain strong and forgive me, and God willing, we
will meet in heaven," she said on the video. Only a few of the more than
100 Palestinian suicide bombers in the past six years were women.
An Israeli missile aimed at a group of militants landed near a
Palestinian kindergarten, killing a teenage boy, critically wounding a
teacher and seriously wounding eight children, doctors said.
The army said an airstrike in the same area targeted four militants
coming to collect launchers used to fire rockets into Israel.
Abbas has been urging Hamas, which controls most government functions, to
join his Fatah movement in a coalition to end international sanctions.
The platform of the emerging government is vague about the key
international demand of recognizing Israel and may not be enough to end
the painful aid boycott.
Negotiators and officials in Hamas, which has repeatedly rejected the
international conditions since winning legislative elections in January,
said an agreement on forming a government was imminent.
"We are getting closer and closer toward a deal. Without having a strong
opportunity for this deal, Abu Mazen would not have come," Barghouti
said. Abbas is also known as Abu Mazen.
Under the emerging plan, the Hamas Cabinet and prime minister would step
down and be replaced by a team of experts in hopes of ending the Western
boycott, imposed when Hamas came to power in March.
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