Hamas impatient to form Government

GAZA - A Hamas leader said yesterday that the Islamic militant group hoped to form a Palestinian Government later this month after agreeing with President Mahmoud Abbas to convene Parliament on February 16.

"We are starting the process and we are sure that within February we will be able to see a new Government," Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar told reporters after his first meeting with Abbas since Hamas won a January 25 parliamentary poll.

Abbas, who has said he cannot ask a party to form a Government until Parliament convenes, did not formally ask Hamas to put together a Cabinet.

But Hamas officials were convinced they would be chosen, since their party won a decisive 74 seats in the 132-member legislature, trouncing Abbas' long-dominant Fatah movement.

"We say because Hamas is the biggest Parliament bloc, definitely Hamas will be asked to form a Government", said Ismail Haniyeh, who was also at the meeting with Abbas.

Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rudainah confirmed that Hamas, as biggest bloc in Parliament, would be chosen to head a new Government once Hamas nominated a candidate to be Prime Minister.

Haniyeh also said Hamas would seek to "speed up formation of the coming Government to avoid any constitutional vacuum".

Abbas made no immediate comment after the 90-minute talks. He had told reporters it could take time before a new Government was formed.

The call of Hamas' charter to destroy Israel could prove an obstacle, as Abbas has said he would expect any Palestinian Government to respect interim peace deals with Israel.

In his remarks after meeting Abbas, Zahar reiterated: "We will not negotiate with Israel under any conditions."

Khaled Mashaal, a Hamas leader in exile, said the group would never recognise Israel but might be willing to negotiate terms for a temporary truce.

Israel brushed off Mashaal's comments, demanding that Hamas unequivocally recognise Israel's right to exist and "abandon terrorism".

- REUTERS