Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas named an independent technocrat as his new prime minister yesterday and won emergency support from world leaders despite his humiliating loss of the Gaza Strip to Hamas.
Abbas appointed Salam Fayyad, who previously worked at the World Bank, to succeed Hamas’ Ismail Haniyeh, whom he fired the day before.
But Haniyeh, who is in control of Gaza, denounced the appointment as a “coup” – the same word Abbas aides used to describe Hamas’ power grab in Gaza.
President Bush was quoted as calling the Hamas victory “tragic” in a phone call yesterday to Israel’s new president, Shimon Peres.
Israel indicated yesterday it was ready to ease an aid embargo on Gaza and could open up a passage for immediate humanitarian aid. Western nations also could now limit their year-old economic aid boycott of the Palestinians to Hamas-run Gaza.
“We are going to keep this strategy of a dialogue with the moderates and to send some hope for those who support their vision,” Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said.
Hamas found itself even more isolated after Egypt, which has been friendly to the terror group, pulled all of its diplomatic and security personnel out of Gaza.
Even pro-Hamas Iran expressed unhappiness with the way the Palestinian civil war unfolded.
“Unfortunately, Palestinian fighters have forgotten their main enemy and are fighting against each other instead of the Zionist regime [Israel],” said former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. Saudi Arabia, which played a key role in getting Fatah and Hamas to form a unity government three months ago, blasted both sides.
“Today the Palestinians have come close to putting by themselves the last nail in the coffin of the Palestinian cause,” Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal told colleagues at an Arab League summit in Cairo.
With Post Wire Services