BICOM

The reconciliation process between Fatah and Hamas received a setback over the weekend, as Hamas made clear its rejection of the candidacy of Salam Fayyad for the prime ministership in the new ‘non-political’ cabinet currently under formation in the Palestinian Authority areas. ‘Hamas will not agree to grant Salam Fayyad the confidence to run the national unity government,’ Hamas official Salah Bardawil told the AP. Negotiations for the new cabinet have been ongoing since the signing of the reconciliation agreement last month between Fatah and Hamas. The aim is to form a caretaker government consisting of members approved by both movements, which will be in place in time for parliamentary and presidential elections next year. The sides are set to meet in Cairo this week to continue negotiations, and to begin the process of appointing members of the new government. Fatah officials quoted in Haaretz said they did not believe that Hamas’s decision was final. Hamas has yet to settle on its preferred candidate for the prime ministership; however, in the past Hamas have said that they expect the prime minister to come from Gaza.

Salam Fayyad is a political independent, associated with neither Fatah nor Hamas. However, he is disliked by Hamas principally because of his pro-Western outlook and his association with the crackdown on Hamas militants in the West Bank. He also has many enemies in Fatah, who dislike him precisely because of the sound fiscal management he has introduced in the West Bank that has delivered a blow to corruption in the Palestinian Authority. This in turn has lessened their access to networks of power and patronage within the Palestinian Authority. Fayyad is respected in the West and by donor countries for this reason, as well as for his moderate political positions. His credibility in the West is likely to have been a key reason behind PA President Abbas’s decision to nominate him to continue in the post of prime minister in the new cabinet. It remains to be seen if Hamas’s position is merely a negotiating stance, or whether it represents a real obstacle in the formation of a new Palestinian cabinet.