Palestinian factions Hamas, PLO agree on pact setting up unity government and holding new elections
Hamas, PLO will form joint government within five weeks but Palestinian analysts question whether it can last and Netanyahu is unhappy
The Gaza-based Islamist group Hamas and President Mahmoud Abbas' Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) agreed yesterday to implement a unity pact, both sides announced in a joint news conference.
The move envisions forming a unity government within five weeks and holding national elections six months after a vote of confidence by the Palestinian parliament.
"An agreement has been reached on the formation within five weeks of an independent government headed by President Mahmoud Abbas," said the statement, read out by Hamas' Gaza prime minister, Ismail Haniya, in front of a visiting delegation from the Palestine Liberation Organisation.
Hamas has repeatedly battled Israel, which it refuses to recognise. Before the announcement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cautioned Abbas over the unity efforts, saying he had to choose between peace with Israel or with its Islamist enemy.
Abbas' Fatah party has remained in control of the Palestinian Authority in the occupied West Bank and pursued troubled peace talks with Israel, which are set to expire next Tuesday.
The agreement was reached in talks in Gaza City which continued into the early hours of the morning between Hamas leaders and a PLO delegation headed by Azzam al-Ahmad, a senior figure in the Fatah movement.