GAZA: In a sign of reconciliation, Islamist group Hamas hands control of government ministries in Gaza to members of the new Palestinian unity government

Record ID: 230249

  • Title: GAZA: In a sign of reconciliation, Islamist group Hamas hands control of government ministries in Gaza to members of the new Palestinian unity government
  • Date: 4th June 2014
  • Summary: GAZA CITY, GAZA (JUNE 4, 2014) (REUTERS) WEATHERED SIGN ON EXTERIOR OF BUILDING, IN (ARABIC) READING: PALESTINIAN NATIONAL AUTHORITY: MINISTRY OF PUBLIC WORKS AND HOUSING MORE OF SIGN JOURNALISTS SITTING IN ROOM AHEAD OF NEWS CONFERENCE FORMER HAMAS APPOINTED MINISTER AND NEW MINISTER REPRESENTING THE NEW PALESTINIAN UNITY GOVERNMENT ENTERING ROOM MINISTERS AND MEDIA CREWS SITTING IN ROOM (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) FORMER MINISTER OF PUBLIC WORKS AND HOUSING YOUSEF AL-GHARIZ, SAYING: "On this occasion, in my name, and in everyone else's I welcome my brother, Dr. Mufeed al-Hassayna, the minister of Public Works and Housing and we congratulate him on the confidence he has earned from his people." MORE OF NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) MINISTER OF PUBLIC WORKS AND HOUSING REPRESENTING THE NEW PALESTINIAN UNITY GOVERNMENT, MUFEED AL-HASSAYNA, SAYING: "This government is a unity and agreement government, and God-willing a professional one that will last 6 months. We will accomplish great things through you and all of the Palestinian people." MEDIA CREWS VARIOUS OF MINISTERS GREETING EACH OTHER AND SYMBOLICALLY HANDING EACH OTHER A FOLDER
  • Embargoed: 19th June 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Gaza
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA7U81XDRUZOCUP3TTM7S410C9R
  • Story Text: Islamist Hamas handed control of two government ministries in Gaza to members of the new Palestinian unity government on Wednesday (June 4), a further sign of reconciliation between rival factions.
    New cabinet ministers Mufeed Al-Hassayna, a U.S.-educated engineer took over from an outgoing Hamas minister at the Public Works and Housing ministry.

    "On this occasion, in my name, and in everyone else's I welcome my brother, Dr. Mufeed al-Hassayna, the minister of Public Works and Housing and we congratulate him on the confidence he has earned from his people," the former minister Yousef al-Ghariz said.
    Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas swore in the government on Monday (June 2) in a reconciliation deal with Hamas Islamists that set Israel on a collision course with Washington over U.S. pledges to work with the new administration, while Israel shunned it.
    The moderate leader, whose Palestinian Authority in the Israeli-occupied West Bank depends on foreign aid, appeared to have banked on Western acceptance of a 16-member cabinet of what he described as politically unaffiliated technocrats.

    "This government is a unity and agreement government, and God-willing a professional one that will last 6 months. We will accomplish great things through you and all of the Palestinian people," the new minister, Mufeed al-Hassayna said.
    Hamas, which advocates Israel's destruction, has run the Gaza Strip since seizing the territory from Abbas's Fatah forces in a brief civil war in 2007. Numerous past reconciliation efforts, largely led by Egypt, had failed over power-sharing.
    The new government's main aim is to facilitate new presidential and parliamentary elections to be held within six months, after which a permanent administration will take over.
    A spokesman for the new administration said ministers in the West Bank had already taken up their posts and only two more ministries in Gaza remained to be handed over in the coming days.
    He said the new cabinet's ability to operate would be harmed by Israeli restrictions on officials wishing to cross Israel to travel between the two separated Palestinian territories and called for international help to press Israel to remove the ban.
    Setting a policy in line with U.S. and European Union demands, Western-backed Abbas said his new administration would continue to honour agreements and principles at the foundation of a peace process with Israel.
    Acting on the agreement with Hamas, Abbas called on the Palestinian Election Committee to "immediately" begin preparations for the elections. A presidential election was last held in 2005 and a parliamentary vote in 2006.
    Political rifts between Hamas and Abbas's more secular Fatah faction, that worsened in 2007 when Hamas ousted Fatah from the Gaza Strip, had repeatedly scuppered any chance of holding elections.
    In an effort to regain trust among Gaza residents and the West Bank, Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Al-Hamdallah asked his cabinet members to facilitate a gradual return of government employees in Gaza to their jobs. In 2007, Abbas's administration ordered them to boycott Hamas control of their offices.
    The some 20,000 government employees appointed by Hamas since 2007 will now be vetted by a committee before they can be added to the new government's payroll and 20,000 Hamas security men will have their posts examined by an Egyptian-led Arab security committee.
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