Fatah, Hamas choose PM of Palestine unity government

Officials from the Islamic Hamas movement and the Fatah Party have tapped the premier of the Palestinian National Authority, Rami Hamdallah, for the role of prime minister in the Palestinian unity government, an official said Thursday.

"Fatah and Hamas agreed on nominating Hamdallah as the prime minister of the new transitional unity government, which will see light very soon," Xin hua cited Al-Rai, Hamas's official news agency, as quoting an unidentified official source.

The source added that the new government would include a prime minister and 15 other technocrat ministers, would not br politically affiliated with either Fatah or Hamas.

The official declined to reveal the names of the new ministers in the new cabinet, but expected that Azzam al-Ahmad, head of the Fatah delegation in the dialogue with Hamas, would arrive in Gaza Sunday for more talks.

On Monday, Ahmad sent President Mahmoud Abbas a list of 30 names of possible candidates who could fill the 15 ministerial posts of the new government.

The Hamas and Fatah announced April 23 that they would implement reconciliation deals they had reached in Cairo in 2011 and in Qatar in 2012.

Both agreed to form a unity technocrat government within five weeks of the announcement, and after the government was formed, they planned to set a date for holding general parliamentary and presidential elections.