Hamas Submits Cabinet List

Hamas has presented to the Palestinian president a cabinet made up of party loyalists after the Islamic group failed to persuade any rival factions to join their government.

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20 Eylül 2018 Perşembe 18:16

Officials from President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction said he would not try to block parliamentary approval of the government but would issue a letter detailing his reservations about its policies. "I met Brother Abu Mazen (Abbas) and officially submitted to him the list of the cabinet," Ismail Haniya, the Hamas prime minister-designate, told a joint news conference on Sunday.

"The president is going to study the make-up of the government and its programme," he said, adding that the atmosphere of the meeting had been "positive". The 24-member cabinet includes one woman and one Christian.

Moderate parties had been pressured by the US to shun an administration led by Hamas, which has rejected demands that it recognise Israel, renounce violence and accept interim peace accords - conditions for continued Western aid.

Hamas, which eclipsed the long-dominant Fatah faction in the 25 January elections, completed its cabinet just over a week before Israel's own general election on 28 March. Abbas said before meeting Haniya that parliament would convene soon for a vote of confidence in the new government.

The list of ministers presented by Haniya to Abbas on Sunday: