New Palestinian prime minister named as Rami Hamdallah
Source: The Guardian
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas named British-educated political independent Rami Hamdallah as his new prime minister on Sunday, a move that was immediately condemned by Hamas, the rulers of the Gaza Strip.
Abbas and the militant Islamist group agreed in principle last month to form a unity government for the divided Palestinian territories, and a Hamas spokesman said Hamdallah's appointment threw that into doubt.
Fawzi Barhoum told Reuters: "Abbas should have implemented the reconciliation (deal)" achieved in Cairo last month, rather than name his own independent candidate as prime minister. The group called Hamdallah's appointment "illegal".
But the official Palestinian news agency, WAFA, said that in naming Hamdallah, Abbas, who has sought to end abuse of the Islamist group's activists by security forces in the West Bank, had "stressed his commitment to reconciliation" with Hamas.
Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/02/palestinian-prime-minister-hamdallah
