Rival Palestinian factions agree on election

Jerusalem, Nov 16 (PTI) Burying differences, rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas have agreed to establish a caretaker government which will hold elections in May. The step appears to end a four-year-old rift between the two feuding sides, which saw Palestinian territories divided into two parts controlled separately by each one of them. The breakthrough in talks came under Egyptian mediation after Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah faction agreed to drop Prime Minister Salam Fayyad from the caretaker government under Hamas' pressure. The caretaker government will be formed in the coming weeks, while Abbas and Hamas' politburo chief are expected to meet in Cairo next week, Palestinian sources said. The Fatah-Hamas agreement came to fruition after a committee appointed by the United Nations Security Council to look into the Palestinians' membership request said that PA did not fulfil the necessary requirements since it did not control the Gaza Strip, which is being ruled by Hamas since June 2007 when they vanquished Fatah led PA forces in pitched gunbattle. PA's control during the past four years has been effectively limited to the West Bank, even though the Abbas led government was accepted by most of the countries as the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people and Israel considered it a partner for peace talks. The new agreement is expected to unite the two governments in Gaza and the West Bank and help the PA in gaining a majority in the Security Council, the sources added. Abbas' refusal to replace Fayyad was said to be one of the major obstacles to carrying out the reconciliation agreement achieved six months ago. Hamas objects to Fayyad's participation in a caretaker government, claiming he is a "pawn of the West". Azzam Ahmad, a senior Abbas aide, told Palestinian reporters this week that Fatah has decided to present a replacement to the Prime Minister. Fayyad, a leading economist backed by the West, himself yesterday said that he would not stand in the way. "I have always called for ending the split," he said adding, "I call upon the factions to find a new Prime Minister and stop claiming that I'm the obstacle, because I was never an obstacle and will never be." However, even if an agreement is reached in Cairo, implementing it is going to be a challenge due to wide differences between the two sides on several issues. They will have to agree on a list of ministers in the new government, budgetary issues and how to combine rival security forces. PTI