Hamas distances itself from post-war Gaza government with the PA

Hamas stated that the Islamist terror organization does not care about the reported imminent possibility that Palestinian Authority (PA) Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh's government would resign, Al Arabiya reported on Sunday.

“Mohammed Shtayyeh will step down from the prime minister position, and [Mahmoud] Abbas will appoint someone even more corrupt," a Hamas source told the Saudi state-owned news outlet.

Mahmoud Abbas was elected president of the PA in 2005 for a four-year term. He has been president ever since despite holding no subsequent elections.

According to the source, Hamas’s goal is to form an impartial and national government that is formed by consensus of the Palestinian factions, adding that the upcoming talks in Moscow to build a unity government would only be in place for “a specified period with clear tasks.”

The unity talks in Moscow are scheduled to take place on Monday.

If successful, Sky News Arabia reported Palestinian sources as claiming that Shtayyeh may resign to form a new, technocratic government.

A Qatari source first reported that Hamas had agreed to form such a government earlier this month.

Nevertheless, Al Arabiya reported that Hamas media spokesman in Lebanon, Walid al-Kilani, described the formation of this government as an outcome of an American demand on the PA, and not as something that would be in the best interest of the Palestinian people.

 "This is in response to an American demand from the Palestinian Authority to make amendments to the government,” al-Kilani said, Al Arabiya reported, citing the Arab World News Agency. “All of this does not serve the interests of the Palestinian people or the future freedom of the Palestinian people or the attainment of their rights. It comes in the context of what the US administration wants."

A method of getting US funding

The media spokesman said the PA was taking this step to secure American funding.

In contrast to Hamas’s stated desire for a government formed by consensus of the Palestinian factions, Al Arabiya reported that, in an interview with the Saudi news network,  Fatah's spokesperson, Abdel Fattah Doula, said that the goal of the next government was not to be a factional body, but rather to manage Palestinian affairs.

Doula added that "there is no discussion with Hamas about its joining the Palestine Liberation Organization, and the priority is to stop the war."

Still, Hamas released a statement to its Telegram channel on Sunday denying the apparent schism between it and the PA. 

"We are not in a state of rift with Fatah," Hamas wrote, "and our doors are open for everyone to talk about what is in the interest of the Palestinian people."