Khaled Meshaal Agrees to Premiership of Mahmoud Abbas as a Future Palestinian Unity Government

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - Palestine’s resistance movement Hamas has agreed to a Qatari proposal that recommends acting Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas as the prime minister of a future Palestinian unity government, officials say.According to Palestinian officials, Qatari ruler Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani made the proposal during a meeting with the leaders of the two major Palestinian factions of Hamas and Fatah in Qatar’s capital, Doha, on Sunday.Hamas Political Bureau chief Khaled Meshaal and Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of Fatah, discussed the formation of a Palestinian unity government during the Sunday meeting.Azzam al-Ahmed, a senior Fatah official, said that the meeting was “positive” and the two Palestinian leaders are scheduled to meet again on Monday.On May 4, 2011, Hamas and Fatah signed a reconciliation deal to form a joint caretaker Palestinian government and hold presidential and parliamentary elections by May 2012.During the planned Monday meeting, Meshaal and Abbas will discuss delaying the elections to the “end of the year” because there may not be enough time to prepare for the May elections, the Palestinian officials said.The leaders of Hamas and Fatah also met in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, in November and December 2011 and urged cooperation with the aim of achieving Palestinian unity. /129