Palestinian president clings to peace with Israel
Palestine-Israel, Politics, 1/27/2006

The Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he will start immediately consultations for a new government following the winning of the Islamic resistance movement Hamas of the majority in the legislative elections against the Fatah movement.

Abbas said in a press conference in Ramullah that the next government will have heavy burdens represented in obligatory agreements before the international community, starting as from the Oslo agreement through the Arab summits and ending with the Roadmap as the only debated framework and including the vision of the US President George W. Bush to establish two states.

Abbas considered that "the new Palestinian government should win the satisfaction and consent of the international community and the world public opinion, to have a plan to challenge settlements and the wall of separation by all means, and the release of the prisoners and the detainees and to establish the Palestinian state."

The Palestinian president stressed that the new Palestinian government should choose "a democratic state on the ground of clinging to our unity, pluralism, freedom, and equality between man and woman." He added "we will work for the revitalization and development of the PLO, the political reference for our people, and we will be careful to abide by all agreements we had signed and committed to."

The Palestinian president also renewed commitment to the implementation of his program on the ground of which he was elected as president for the Palestinian Authority. "A program which is based on pursuing the path of negotiation and peaceful solution with Israel, and clinging to the national principles and the rights of the Palestinian people so as to establish the independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as a capital."

Earlier, Abbas accepted the resignation of the Palestinian prime minister Ahmad Qurei and assigned him to run the affairs of the cabinet until a new government is formed, while chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Oreikat said that Abbas will assign Hamas to form the new government but he stressed that Fatah will not take part in it.

Previous Stories:
  Hamas major win of Palestinian elections   (1/26/2006)
  NYTimes: Olmert backs creation of Palestinian state   (1/25/2006)
  Palestinians vote amid tight security measures   (1/25/2006)

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