File Photo: Rami Hamdallah, president of Al-Najah National University, speaks during a meeting at the university in the West Bank city of Nablus on February 14, 2010. (REUTERS/Abed Omar Qusini)
Abbas stressed his commitment to the reconciliation agreements signed in Cairo and Doha and said that the agreements would be applied within the time frame agreed upon in Cairo. This means the formation of a temporary government led by Hamdallah for three months, until a new government is formed based on an agreement between Fatah and Hamas.
Hamdallah said that he valued President Abbas’s confidence in him. He claimed that he would focus all his efforts and energy into serving the national interest and supporting the endurance of the Palestinian people, including continuing traditional demands for a free and independent state on Palestine’s national soil with East Jerusalem as its capital, while committing to the president’s policy and agenda.
Before Fayyad’s resignation on April 13, he and Abbas were often in dispute. Fayyad also had frequent disagreements with the Fatah movement.
According to the Palestinian law, after a prime minister resigns the government continues for a period of seven weeks, which in this case ended yesterday.
The appointment of Hamdallah followed reports by Asharq Al-Awsat that the position of prime minister would be offered either Hamdallah or Mohammad Mustafa, head of the Palestinian Investment Fund.
The Hamas movement attacked the formation of a new government in the West Bank. According to local press reports, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zahari said that the formation of the new government breached the Cairo agreement, and was therefore “illegal.”
It is understood that Hamdallah will not require much time to form his cabinet, since it was agreed previously that most ministers will remain in office, with only a few changes of personnel.
Hamdallah holds PhD in applied linguistics from a British university, and is the president of An-Najah National University in Nablus, as well as a faculty member within the Department of English Language.