Hamas and Fatah unveil government

Gaza City: The rival Hamas and Fatah groups formed a unity government on Thursday, in the hope that it will end infighting and lead Palestine out of yearlong international isolation.

Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas announced the final coalition agreement, which ended months of negotiations. Parliament is to approve the coalition and its platform on Saturday.

Haniyeh presented the Cabinet line-up of nine ministers from Hamas and six from Fatah to Abbas, who accepted it. Haniyeh and Abbas agreed to the power-sharing deal last month in Saudi Arabia, but had spent the past few weeks sorting out the final details.

However, Israel has announced it will not deal with the new government because its programme falls short of the three international conditions for acceptance, including recognising Israel.

Israel, the United States and the European Union have said the new government must meet three conditions for acceptance -recognising Israel, renouncing violence and accepting previous peace deals. The programme, as posted on Hamas and Fatah websites, falls short of those requirements, although it calls for continued observance of a truce with Israel.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said, "Unfortunately the new Palestinian government seems to have said no to the three benchmarks of the international community."

He added, "Accordingly, Israel will not deal with this new government and we hope the international community will stand firmly by its own principles and refuse to deal with a government that says no to peace and no to reconciliation."

The final stage of the coalition talks dealt with one of the most difficult issues - who would fill the post of interior minister and assume control over the security forces.

Officials identified the new minister as Hani Kawasmi, a senior Interior Ministry civil servant who has good relations with Hamas and Fatah, but does not belong to either party. Mustafa Barghouti, the incoming information minister, confirmed the appointment.

Barghouti said other key appointments included Salam Fayyad, an internationally respected economist, as finance minister, and Ziad Abu Amr, an independent lawmaker, as foreign minister. Haniyeh will remain as prime minister, and Azzam Al Ahmed, head of Fatah's parliament bloc, will be deputy prime minister.