Special report: Internal situation in Palestine
GAZA, Nov. 16 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian President
Mahmoud Abbas, who arrived in Gaza on Thursday, held a meeting with Prime
Minister Ismail Haneya in Gaza on the formation of a unity government and agreed
to continue their discussions in more meetings.
Official sources at Abbas' Gaza headquarters revealed
that Abbas and Haneya meeting was held away from the mass media, adding that the
meeting aimed at putting the final touches on the formation of the expected
national unity government.
The sources said that Abbas and Haneya agreed at
their Thursday meeting to have more meetings in the coming days, and Abbas would
stay in Gaza for a while to hammer out an agreement on forming the new
government.
"They discussed the results of the dialogues held
between Fatah and Hamas movements last week in Gaza on the formation of the
government and the delivery of the portfolios to those who would join it," said
the sources.
The Hamas-led government insists that the formation
of a new national unity government should be after Abbas gets guarantees that
the siege imposed on the Palestinians would be lifted.
Palestinian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of
High Education Nasser el-Dein al-Sha'er had earlier said that President Abbas
had received oral guarantees from several Arab countries that the siege imposed
on the Palestinians would be lifted.
Other sources denied that Haneya and Abbas had failed
to reach a consensus during their talks on the national unity government, adding
that they agreed to resume their talks in Gaza on Saturday.
Palestinian movements of Hamas and Fatah agreed on
replacing the Hamas-led government with a broader unity one to get the
Palestinian territory out of the current economic and political crisis. Progress
has been made on the issue and some Palestinian officials expect the new
government to be declared by the end of November.
Related:
Fatah, Hamas officials to head for Syria for new gov't talks
GAZA, Nov. 15 (Xinhua) -- Senior officials from Hamas and Fatah would head for Syria soon to meet with exiled leaders of Palestinian factions on formation of a national unity government, the Al-Ayyam newspaper reported on Wednesday. >>>
