"Palestinian rivals said to strike deal" November 28, 2011|By Associated Press
RAMALLAH, West Bank - The rival leaders of the Palestinians have quietly decided to keep their respective governments in the West Bank and Gaza in place until elections, a senior Hamas figure said. This proposal would remove a major obstacle to efforts to reconcile the factions: the need to form an interim unity government.
Azzam al-Ahmed, a representative of Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, denied that such a deal was struck and said there is “no possibility of holding elections without a unity government.’’
The Hamas figure said the understanding was reached between Western-backed Abbas and Khaled Mashaal, chief of the Islamic militant Hamas, during one-on-one talks last week. He spoke on condition of anonymity, because he said the two leaders decided not to make the arrangement public.
Another top Hamas official, Moussa Abu Marzouk, said that it was at least possible to skip an interim government and head straight to elections, tentatively scheduled for May.
The Hamas statements suggested that a solution was being finessed to get around the disagreement on keeping Salam Fayyad, prime minister of the West Bank government, who is popular with Western donors but strongly opposed by Hamas.
By retaining the separate governments until the elections, and perhaps enabling them to work closer together, both sides could save face.
Keeping the existing governments in place would help Abbas avoid a Western backlash and continue the flow of international aid to his government in the run-up to elections. Western powers fear a unity government, even one composed of technocrats without clear political affiliations, would be heavily influenced by militant Hamas.
They don't mind installing market puppets in Europe though.
It also would mean that Salam Fayyad, an internationally respected economist, remains in charge in the West Bank for the time being and continue to ensure that donor countries keep funding Abbas’ Palestinian Authority. Hamas will run Gaza, the territory it seized from Abbas by force in 2007.
Related:
"Hamas overwhelmingly won Palestinian Parliament elections in 2006.... Hamas won Palestinian parliamentary elections in early 2006.... In 2006, Hamas won Palestinian legislative elections.... Hamas won the last parliamentary elections in 2006.... Hamas won parliamentary elections in 2006.... Hamas won a majority in 2006 elections"
I'm sure there are a couple more links I missed; however, hasn't my point been made?
The links are FROM THEIR OWN MOUTHS and yet we STILL GET REPETITIVE DISTORTION as "news."
Question: Why should we believe anything the AmeriKan media tells us -- especially regarding Israel and Palestine?
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