Fatah and Hamas reach agreement

Finally, after months of factional fighting on street level and failure to agree on elite level, Hamas and Fatah have reached an agreement on how to allocate the government posts between them. Not surprisingly, it was the position as minister of interior that posed the greatest challenge to the would-be coalition goverment. The new government will be presented for a parliamentary vote of confidence on Saturday, which is expected to be approved. Ismael Haneya, the acting prime minister from Hamas, says that president Mahmoud Abbas has already accepted the candidates, according to al Jazeera. Meanwhile, Israel does not budge. They will not deal with the Palestinian government unless it agrees to the "three principles" of recognizing Israel, denounce violence and abode by previous peace agreements. Despite this, European countries are making signs to indicate that they will now lift the boycott in order to help restore law and order in the Palestinian territories. If the boycott is lifted, Hamas and Fatah still have to heal the wounds after the violent clashes between their supporters. Also, uniting Hamas' Executive Force with the national security apparatus, which is dominated by Fatah, represents a big challenge facing the incoming government. See also previous post "Placing the right demands" for more or

al Jazeera