Palestinian Prime Minister-designate Ismail Haniyeh has chosen an Islamic studies professor, a resident of the West Bank, as his deputy, Hamas officials said Sunday.
Nasser Eddin Shaer, 48, will in fact serve as prime minister of the West Bank because Israel has barred Haniyeh from traveling out of the Gaza Strip, where he lives, the officials said, according to the AP. Released earlier this month from an Israeli prison where he was incarcerated for five months, Shaer is a longtime member of Hamas, officials said.
Shaer said he would also serve as Education Minister in the new Hamas-led cabinet.
Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas said Sunday that he would ask Haniyeh to present the cabinet later in the day. "Today, I'm going to call the designated prime minister, we are going to see the formation of this government," Abbas told reporters in the Gaza Strip town of Rafah.
He refused to declare his position regarding the Hamas-led government before receiving its program and the cabinet line-up.
Meanwhile, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) has declined joining the new Palestinian government. The PFLP leadership in Gaza had been holding intensive meetings to decide whether or not to Join the government.
Jamil Majdalawi told PIC the main reason for PFLP rejection had to do with Hamas' refusal to recognize the PLO as the “sole and only representative of the PLO.” “The PLO is a historical achievement for the Palestinian people. We can’t just ignore this fact and deal with it lightly,” he said.
Hamas refused to recognize the PLO as the sole representative of the PLO, calling that entity “anachronistic, undemocratic and unrepresentative of the Palestinian people.”
