PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES: Fatah cites scheduling as reason for postponing talks with Hamas

[Jefferson23]

June 19, 2011 | 3:23 pm

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah movement was quick Sunday to ease fears regarding a decision to postpone a meeting between Abbas and Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal that had been planned for Tuesday in Cairo.

Fatah officials said the decision had to do with Abbas’ busy schedule and did not necessarily mean the reconciliation process between the two rival factions is faltering.

Fatah and Hamas signed a reconciliation agreement early in May after four years of bitter and sometimes violent rivalry. The agreement called for establishing a unity government with the goal of holding general elections within a year and to rebuild the Gaza Strip, devastated after five years of the Israeli blockade and military assaults.

Forming the unity government has become a stumbling block in the reconciliation effort. Fatah wants current Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad to run the new government because it believes the Western-backed Fayyad will be able to prevent an international blockade against the new government because of Hamas involvement. Hamas, however, does not trust Fayyad.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2011/06/palestinian-fatah-abbas-meeting-with-hamas.html

[oberliner]

1. "The real reason for the delay...is disagreement over Fayyad"

RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories — Disagreement over who should be the next Palestinian premier is holding up the creation of a unity government agreed last month between old rivals Fatah and Hamas, Palestinian officials said on Monday.

A meeting in Cairo on Tuesday between Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, who heads Fatah, and Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal has been postponed due to Hamas opposition to the reappointment of Western-backed economist Salam Fayyad, they said.

"The real reason for the delay in the forming and convening of the government is disagreement over Fayyad," an official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

"President Abbas insists on nominating Salam Fayyad, whose appointment Hamas categorically rejects," he added. "That has led the two sides to postpone the meeting rather than announce the collapse of the reconciliation."

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jQ3WgwaBrGMRlXRRSU6sLPig495w?docId=CNG.f6e4cf8f7bcbf9e0be98991770b9f79b.3a1