Fayyad says he will not want to be stumbling block in
reconciliation deal between Fatah, Hamas.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (left) shakes hands with Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh as Hamas Political Bureau Chief Khaled Mashal looks on.

CAIRO — Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas will meet Hamas
chief Khaled Meshaal in Cairo next week to finalize a new government put
together by the two factions, a top official of his Fatah movement said
Tuesday.

The meeting was announced as Palestinian factions were in
Cairo for reconciliation talks aimed at choosing a prime minister to head the
unity government.

“Today, during the talks between the Fatah and Hamas
delegations, a meeting was scheduled for next Tuesday between President Abbas
and Meshaal to finalize the formation of the new government,” said Azzam
al-Ahmad, who heads the Fatah delegation at the talks.

“They also decided that this meeting will be the last
to finalize the issue of the government,” he said.

Fatah met with a Hamas delegation headed by Mussa Abu Marzuk
at the Egyptian intelligence headquarters.

Fatah has said it wants to retain prime minister Salam
Fayyad to head the government, but the nomination was immediately rejected by
the Islamist Hamas movement.

Fayyad told reporters in the West Bank city of Ramallah that
he would not want to be a stumbling block in the reconciliation deal.

“I assure you that there is no way I can accept that
the formation of the unity government be delayed because of me,” Fayyad
said.

“I will not impose myself on anyone, and I do not want
any side to perceive me as being imposed on them. But if there is an agreement
on my (nomination), I will be willing to take on the task,” he added.

Both Fatah and Hamas said they were optimistic they would
come to an agreement.

“God willing, this will be the last round of talks
regarding the formation of the government,” Ahmad told AFP ahead of the
meeting.

“We hope to agree on the name of a prime minister and
the members of the government… We, in Fatah, insist on ending the chapter of
division and to implement the deal on the ground. We are optimistic,” he
said.

The Egyptian-sponsored talks are the fruit of a
reconciliation agreement signed in Cairo in May aimed at ending years of bitter
feuding and laying the groundwork for presidential and parliamentary elections
within a year.

Fatah’s central committee agreed on Saturday to throw their
support behind Fayyad, a former World Bank official and preferred candidate of
the international community.

But Hamas has rejected Fayyad, blaming him for the arrest
and alleged torture of its leaders, and plunging the Palestinian Authority into
debt.

Izzat al-Risheq, a member of the Hamas politburo, said ahead
of the Cairo talks that the best way forward in forming the unity government
was to exclude controversial candidates.

“A main principle we have agreed on is that thorny
issues or disagreements be dealt with by both sides through consensus.
Therefore the government will be one of consensus and no side will impose its
view on the other,” Egyptian state news agency MENA quoted Risheq as
saying.

“We feel the best way is to exclude controversial
choices,” he said.

On Sunday, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri reiterated his
movement’s rejection of Fayyad.

“Hamas informed Fatah during the last meeting of its
rejection of the choice of Salam Fayyad to head the new government,” Abu
Zuhri said.

“The Fatah central committee’s nomination of Salam
Fayyad to head the government is a Fatah nomination and any head of the new
government must be chosen by consensus and not, of course, by one of the
parties.”

Hamas has yet to put forward a candidate for the prime
minister’s post.

Risheq said the two sides will also be discussing the
release of political prisoners.