GAZA: Profile of Hamas Leader Ismail Haniyeh - chosen to be the next Palestinian prime minister
Record ID:
872742
GAZA: Profile of Hamas Leader Ismail Haniyeh - chosen to be the next Palestinian prime minister
- Title: GAZA: Profile of Hamas Leader Ismail Haniyeh - chosen to be the next Palestinian prime minister
- Date: 18th February 2006
- Summary: (BN10) GAZA CITY, GAZA STRIP (RECENT - FEBRUARY 2006) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF PALESTINIAN MAHMOUD ABBAS'S HEADQUARTERS; HAMAS LEADERS, INCLUDING HANIYEH, MEETING ABBAS; ABBAS; HAMAS LEADER MAHMOUD A-ZAHAR; HAMAS AND FATAH DELEGATIONS MEETING
- Embargoed: 5th March 2006 12:00
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- Topics: Domestic Politics,People
- Reuters ID: LVA9YBO5R7DF8XP5QDZL30HXNZC1
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- Story Text: Hamas took over as the dominant party in the Palestinian parliament on Saturday (February 18, 2006) and named its leader Ismail Haniyeh as the Palestinian Authority's next prime minister.
The first session of the new parliament was held in Ramallah and via video link to the Gaza Strip. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was due to formally ask Haniyeh to form a new government, based on a programme proposed by the president, a moderate who advocates a resumption of peace talks with Israel.
Once Haniyeh has put together a government, parliament will hold a confidence vote.
Haniyeh, 43, widely viewed by Palestinians as a pragmatist, had been expected to get Hamas's nod.
He headed Hamas's list of candidates in the January 25 parliamentary election in which the movement, dedicated to Israel's destruction and riding a wave of popularity over its pledge to fight corruption, scored a landslide victory.
Following the election, Haniyeh reached out to Abbas's defeated Fatah party and other factions to join a broad-based government.
Many Palestinians see Haniyeh as someone rival factions and ultimately Israel could do business with.
In a Reuters interview earlier this month, Haniyeh said Hamas would honour commitments by the Palestinian Authority to Israel, but only if they served Palestinian interests.
Israel says it could not consider dealing with Hamas until the group recognised the Jewish state, renounced violence and accepted past interim peace deals.
Haniyeh, a Gaza resident, survived an Israeli air strike in 2003 targeting Hamas's leadership at the height of a Palestinian uprising it has spearheaded.
He ran the office of Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin until Israel assassinated him in an airstrike in March 2004. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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