President Abbas prepares to swear in unelected interim government

Editorial Note: The following news reports may be summaries from original sources. They may also include corrections of Arabic names and political terminology.

Date: 16 / 06 / 2007 Time: 18:18

Bethlehem – Ma'an –

President Abbas is preparing to swear in a new interim emergency government following the dismissal of the Hamas-led government of national unity.

Former treasury minister, Salam Fayyad, is entrusted to act as the Prime Minister, while the Reuters news agency has reported that he will be joined by 11 other decision-makers to form an emergency cabinet.

Following widespread international support for President Abbas, the new government will have the endorsement of the US administration, despite not yet being named, the US Consul-General, Jacob Walles, confirmed on Saturday afternoon.

The US are reported to already have approved the lifting of the financial embargo against the Palestinian Authority, in place since Hamas democratically-won parliamentary elections in early 2006. Contrary to Hamas' victory through the democratic process, the new interim government will be exclusively appointed, without elections.

Reuters reported that the Hamas movement has declared that the appointment of the Western-backed Fayyad and his unelected government amounts to a coup d'état.

Under Palestinian law, President Abbas may keep the state of emergency in place for 30 days. Any extension to this must be ratified by two-thirds of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC). Since Hamas won the 2006 PLC elections, President Abbas' Fatah movement has been in the minority, yet Israel's detention without trial of Hamas PLC members may give Fatah the numerical advantage in the PLC, if quorum can be achieved.

The new government is expected to be sworn in by the end of tomorrow (Sunday 17th June).

The previous government was in place for four months, following the Mecca accords, which ended the last bout of internecine fighting.

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