almotamar.net - Gaza - Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniya is set to announce his new national unity government later Thursday, Palestinian officials said. Under the coalition deal, reached Wednesday after months of wrangling between Haniya's ruling Hamas movement and President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party, Haniya remains premier, and senior Fatah official Azam al-Ahmed will serve as deputy prime minister.
Although the new cabinet has not yet been officially announced, reports Thursday morning said respected economist Salam Fayyad, of the small Third Way faction, will become finance minister and Ziad Abu Amr, who is unaffiliated with any party, will take the foreign ministry portfolio.
Hani al-Kawasmi will serve as interior minister, a key post since the ministry controls the various Palestinian security forces, which have scores of thousands of members and wield great influence on the Palestinian street.
The dispute over who was to be interior minister was the last major obstacle preventing the formation of the government, and was only resolved Wednesday.
The Islamic Hamas and Abbas' secular Fatah party agreed in Mecca on February 8 to form a national unity government.
Abbas hopes a unity government which includes Fatah will bring an end to the vicious internecine fighting in the Palestinian areas, and will also end a crippling economic and diplomatic embargo on the Palestinian government.
The embargo was imposed by Western countries, led by the so-called Quartet - the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations - after Hamas formed a government last year but refused international demands to recognise Israel, renounce violence and honour past Israeli-Palestinian agreements.
Since the Mecca deal was signed, Hamas has reiterated its position that it will not recognise Israel, which it wants replaced with an Islamic state from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River.