Abbas rejigs Palestinian govt as emergency ends

Ramallah (West Bank), July 14: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas rejigged his government at the end of a month-long state of emergency declared when Hamas Islamists seized control of the Gaza Strip.

Responding to a constitutional limit on any state of emergency of 30 days that ended at midnight (0230 hrs IST), Abbas swore in three new ministers and reappointed Salam Fayyad as prime minister after he formally stepped down, aides said.

That put the government formed after Abbas dismissed its Hamas-led predecessor on June 14 on a new legal footing, although some lawyers argue Abbas's actions need approval from the legislature, which is paralysed by the crisis.

The appointment of new ministers by the Western-backed president, and the resignation and reappointment of the cabinet, effectively creates a new caretaker government to replace the emergency one formed under Fayyad after Hamas fighters routed forces loyal to Abbas's secular Fatah faction in Gaza.

The official Palestinian news agency WAFA said that, by law, Fayyad now has five weeks in which to form a permanent new government that would require ratification by parliament.

''Your current government continues to function as a caretaker government,'' WAFA quoted Abbas as telling Fayyad in a decree.

Leading lawyers who drafted the Palestinian Basic Law, an interim constitution, had argued that Abbas had the right to dismiss Hamas's Ismail Haniyeh as prime minister, but not to appoint an entire new cabinet without legislative approval -- nor the right to suspend parts of the constitution by decree.

''The president is very keen that all his steps should be legal. He and the prime minister want to expand the current government,'' an Abbas aide said in Ramallah, in the Israeli- occupied West Bank, where Fatah remains dominant.

Hamas Criticism

Haniyeh, who still considers himself prime minister, told worshippers at a Gaza mosque yesterday the president was failing to seek parliamentary approval. He also renewed Hamas's call for dialogue to end a schism that many Palestinians feel has jeopardised their hopes of establishing a state.

But Haniyeh rejected conditions Abbas has set for talks: ''We want dialogue but we will not beg for dialogue.'' Abbas's supporters argue that parliament -- the Palestinian Legislative Council has been paralysed by Hamas and therefore the president must manage his administration without it.

Hamas, whose election victory 18 months ago led to an international embargo on the Palestinian Authority, points out that more than half of its majority bloc have been arrested by Israel. The remainder failed to attend a session on Wednesday, ensuring there was no quorum to begin a new legislative year.

Fayyad, a US-trained economist, has strong Western support and leads a largely technocratic cabinet that is backed by Fatah but which is formally made up of independents. Two of the three new ministers are academics, one is a women's rights advocate.

Fayyad was finance minister in a Hamas-Fatah unity government formed in March to try to ease the international embargo on Haniyeh's previous Hamas administration. Western powers and Israel shun Hamas for its support for violence and have restored financial flows to Abbas's administration in the West Bank while tightening the isolation of the Gaza Strip.

The Quartet of international mediators the United States, European Union, United Nations and Russia convenes in Lisbon on July 19 to discuss Israeli-Palestinian peace prospects. The conference will be attended by former British prime minister Tony Blair, the Quartet's new envoy, a UN spokeswoman said.

Reuters

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