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Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas swore in the Palestinian unity government on Monday in the Muqataa presidential compound in Ramallah, after last week’s landmark reconciliation agreement between Hamas and Fatah which has left Israel infuriated.
After the swearing-in ceremony, Abbas hailed “the end” of the bitter, and sometimes violent, divided between Hamas and Fatah. Hamas also lauded the new government, saying that it represented “all Palestinians” and that the moment was a “turning point” for the relation between the two.
The new ministers were sworn-in on a red carpet bordered with Palestinian flags, taking their oath on either a Bible or a Koran, as Abbas watched on. This is the first Palestinian government to take oath in seven years.
“Today, with the formation of a national consensus government, we announce the end of a Palestinian division that has greatly damaged our national case. This black page in history has been turned forever”, Abbas said. Sami Abu Zuhri, spokesman for Hamas, described the deal as “a turning point”, and said that Hamas hailed “the national consensus government, which represents all the Palestinian people”.
The new cabinet consists of 17 ministers, and all of them are political independents. The new government is technocratic in nature, and says that it does not have a political mandate. It includes five ministers from Gaza and three women. Prime Minister is all set to head the prisoners’ ministry and the interior ministry.
Israa al-Mudallal, spokeswoman for Hamas, said that the Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniya and the Hamas cabinet in Gaza have all resigned, paving the way “for the new ministers of the consensus government”. Haniya also welcomed the cabinet as “a government of one people and one political system”.
“We’re leaving the government, but not the nation. We’re leaving the ministries but not the question of the nation”, she said