Sunday, 15 May 2011

Abbas at odds with Fatah over Fayyad nomination

[ 15/05/2011 - 09:33 AM ]

RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- Fatah chief Mahmoud Abbas is at odds with his party in the wake of his insistence on nominating Salam Fayyad as the prime minister in the recently agreed national unity government, a high-profile Fatah official told Al-Jazeera.

Abbas insists that Fayyad should take the role as prime minister, but Fatah's revolutionary council and even its central committee have rejected the decision, the official said on condition of anonymity.

Abbas said in sessions with the Revolutionary Council – that started last Monday and went on for three days – that Fayyad is the only candidate after the unity deal signing in Egypt, and that Fatah must support this option.

The official said that only a few members of the Revolutionary Council agreed with the decision. Fatah has said that Fayyad has suppressed the party in the past government after Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip.

The rejection of Fayyad heading a future technocrat government stems from Fatah's fears that he will continue in the exclusionary policy and is also because he is not a member of the party, the official added.

Fayyad is a recipient of major international support. Hamas has accused him of considering security cooperation with Israel as legal and of hampering the resistance movement in the West Bank. Fatah sees him as an exclusionary who does not like to see others take center stage.

Top Fatah officials have noted that the cancellation of salaries of employees in the Palestinian Authority last month served as a message from Fayyad to let Fatah and Hamas know that there would be no funding for a future government without Fayyad .

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