Fayyad nomination is final, Fatah says

Ramallah: The Fatah party Sunday said the nomination of Dr Salam Fayyad to lead the Palestinian unity government is final.

It said if Hamas did not agree with the nomination in the next couple of days, the current caretaker government under Fayyad will remain in place.

"If agreement on the nomination of Dr Fayyad is not reached within the coming couple of days, it is highly possible that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas assigns Dr Fayyad to reshuffle his cabinet and preserve the status quo," Ameen Maqboul, who heads the Revolutionary Council at Fatah, told Gulf News in an interview.

"From our perspective, a government ordered by President Abbas should run the daily affairs of Palestinians in both the West Bank and Gaza Strip as the legitimate government," he said. "So far there is no agreement on the nomination of a certain candidate to lead the unity government," he said.

"Our Arab brothers and some friends are fully aware of the details of the current negotiations between Fatah and Hamas and they are working on bridging the gap between the two sides," he said.

"It is either consensus or a delay regarding the unity government. If there is no agreement on the unity government under Dr Fayyad, the issue of the unity government will be put aside and Fatah and Hamas will discuss other articles of the reconciliation deal, sending a message to the public that Palestinian reconciliation is still alive even if agreement on forming a unity government is not reached," he said.