Oxymoron Anyone? Only AP Could Do This Strait Faced

[Annie]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070714/ap_on_re_mi_ea/palestinians_government

Abbas installs government of moderates

By DALIA NAMMARI, Associated Press WriterSat Jul 14, 2:53 PM ET

President Mahmoud Abbas consolidated his control of the West Bank on Saturday, installing an interim government of moderates to lead indefinitely.

While Israel considered ways to support the West Bank leadership, the militant Islamic Hamas — in control of the Gaza Strip — called a special session of the Palestinian parliament for Sunday to challenge the new government.

By law, any new government requires parliament approval. But the legislature has been paralyzed by the power struggle between Hamas and Abbas' Fatah movement and by Israel's arrest of more than three dozen Hamas legislators.

The latest power play followed Hamas' violent takeover of Gaza last month, which led to the dissolution of the power-sharing coalition between Hamas and Abbas' Fatah movement.

The emergency Cabinet's one-month term expired on Friday. Abbas, who appointed it after Gaza fell, immediately replaced it Saturday with an indefinite interim Cabinet, to be led by Prime Minister Salem Fayyad.

"This government, from the outset, is unconstitutional," said Ahmed Bahar of Hamas, acting parliament speaker.

Trying to shore up his support, Abbas called for a special meeting next week of a top Palestine Liberation Organization policy-making body. He was negotiating with Israel to lift its ban on some Palestinian leaders living outside the Israeli-occupied territories so they could attend.

Among the names under discussion is Nayef Hawatmeh, leader of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a small PLO faction.

In 1974, Hawatmeh's men commandeered a school in the northern Israeli town of Maalot, and 24 Israelis, most of them children, were killed. The Maalot massacre shaped the attitudes of a generation of Israelis about the Palestinian leadership.

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Israel hasn't decided on Hawatmeh yet.

The PLO, an umbrella group of all Palestinian factions, technically trumps the elected Palestinian government. Abbas, however, heads both the PLO and the governing Palestinian Authority, so the PLO Central Council, meeting Wednesday in Ramallah, is expected to rubberstamp his actions.

Hamas, which is not a PLO member, rejects its authority.

Israel also was considering a deal to remove dozens of Fatah militants from its wanted list, in exchange for guarantees they would suspend operations against Israel, the Palestinians said.

"There are the beginnings of an agreement," said Kamel Ghanam, a leader of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a violent offshoot of Abbas' Fatah movement.

Ghanam said the militants could sign an agreement with Israel, and "if they sign, Israel will stop chasing them." Talks are continuing on who is eligible for amnesty, he said.

Israel has not commented on the proposed amnesty or other pro-Abbas measures.