RAMALLAH, West Bank, March 18 (UPI) -- After four weeks of fruitless negotiations for a coalition Palestinian Authority government, Hamas leaders have announced their cabinet.
Ismail Haniyeh, the designated prime minister, plans to submit a list of 24 ministers to President Mahmoud Abbas.
The list includes seven Hamas members of the Palestinian Legislative Council in the most important ministries: foreign, interior -- which heads the security services -- finance, health and education. The other positions are being given to technocrats who are not members of Parliament.
Fourteen designees are from the West Bank and 10 are from Gaza.
During talks with other parties, Haniyeh tried to form a national unity government that would have included members of Fatah and other opposition parties in the cabinet, and then a coalition that would have excluded Fatah. Those efforts failed, partly because Abbas would not consider a coalition unless Hamas renounces violence and recognizes Israel, Voice of America reported.
