Political adviser to Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said Wednesday that Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad's plan to create a new unity cabinet was "born dead, it is of no political value."
In a government statement, Yousef Rizqa said Hamas officials never received information on Fayyad's plan, splashed across Palestinian newspapers, which said the re-appointed prime minister was consulting with Hamas members in an effort to bring the party into a new government body ahead of national and municipal elections set for September and June respectively.
Fayyad himself, in his weekly radio address, told Palestinians that in preparing to appoint a cabinet, he met with all factions, with an eye to determining the "readiness for statehood" within his state building plan. His new government, he said, would "necessarily reflect the most expansive national and social coalition [which would] create a vision to solve the national dilemma."
There was no specific mention of Hamas participation, however.
"The plan appears to be the personal position of Salam and not something that has been adopted by the Palestinian Authority of Fatah," Rizqa said, days after the Fatah Central Committee, the party's leading body, came out with a statement saying Jerusalem - and not Gaza - should be the focus of the new cabinet.
Following the 14 February resignation of the Fayyad government, President Mahmoud Abbas asked the leader to form a new cabinet. Media reports said Fayyad intended to consult with all factions as well as civil society groups, as he reconstituted the government.
"Fatah has given evidence of its rejection of the [Fayyad's] plan, and confirms that no one represents the plan but Fayyad himself," the official said.
Rizqa's statement said Hamas was not surprised by the outcome, calling the idea of a unity cabinet a "PR move," adding, "how could they have been serious about a national partnership when Hamas members are being arrested and tortured, [affiliated] establishments shut down ... and barring [Hamas] PLC members from moving freely.
"There is a stark difference between the media message and the acts [the government is taking] on the ground," he said in the statement.
Fayyad pushes for support for unity government
Fayyad acknowledged that the unity goal within the government was his own idea, a unity government, he said "would not see any party incur losses, and would mean the possibility that all Palestinians can work together on the same path toward comprehensive conciliation, and give our nation a chance to realize its hopes and national aspiration."
With a unity government in place, Fayyad suggested, the path to statehood would be unimpeded and a Palestinian coalition could call on the international community to live up to its promises to fully support an end to occupation and the establishment of a state in September 2011.
"Division has lasted more than four years, it is turning into a painful reality ... intervention is needed to solve this sooner rather than later; we can no more have a state without Gaza than a state without Jerusalem," he said, in what appeared to be a bid promoting his vision.
With more than two weeks already passed since the resignation of the cabinet, Fayyad has another two and a half to secure a cabinet that will be sworn in by President Mahmoud Abbas.
"We have no time to waste, anyone who wishes to reject this plan must explain to the Palestinian people what his alternative is for ending the division. There is no way to continue without placing the future of a state in jeopardy," he said.
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