Mohammed Shbair, a former head of the terrorist-hotbed Islamic University of Gaza,
has been all but chosen to succeed his former assistant, Ismail Haniye, as prime minister in the Hamas Authority. An independent legislator in the PA legislature, Shbair is ideologically close to Hamas, but is not an active member.
Shbair, who has a doctorate in microbiology from West Virginia University, would be expected to head a government of technocrats that would deal less with Israel and more with internal domestic problems. The Palestinian Authority leadership thus hopes that the international community will agree to provide it with financial aid. The Quartet demands that Hamas recognize Israel and renounce all terrorism in order to receive funding.
However, Hamas continues to show no signs of softening. In addition to accepting official responsibility today for recent unprovoked Kassam rocket attacks on Israel, a Hamas spokesman said today that Hamas would continue to refuse to recognize Israel.
Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said the agenda of the proposed unity government between Hamas and Fatah "will not recognize Israel and will not include accepting the two-state solution." Barhoum said the two-state solution is inherently unacceptable "because it represents a clear recognition of Israel... We reject joining in any government that recognizes Israel."
Opposition leader MK Binyamin Netanyahu said today, "The Palestinian government continues to identify with Iran and their goals of destroying Israel. You don't negotiate with a government that wants to destroy you; you try to topple it."
Public Security Minister Avi Dichter, currently in Los Angeles, said that the problem with Hamas is not something that a change of prime ministers could solve, nor should Israel deal with the proposed new government. "Shbair himself was director of a university that primed and raised terrorists who now fill Gaza," Dichter said. "What has to be changed is the entire conception of the Palestinian Authority government."
The European Union welcomed the prospect of a U.S.-educated professor leading a new unity government, but emphasized there would be no change in its demands. The Quartet demands that the PA formally recognize the State of Israel, renounce violence and uphold agreements with Israel signed by the previous PA government.
has been all but chosen to succeed his former assistant, Ismail Haniye, as prime minister in the Hamas Authority. An independent legislator in the PA legislature, Shbair is ideologically close to Hamas, but is not an active member.
Shbair, who has a doctorate in microbiology from West Virginia University, would be expected to head a government of technocrats that would deal less with Israel and more with internal domestic problems. The Palestinian Authority leadership thus hopes that the international community will agree to provide it with financial aid. The Quartet demands that Hamas recognize Israel and renounce all terrorism in order to receive funding.
However, Hamas continues to show no signs of softening. In addition to accepting official responsibility today for recent unprovoked Kassam rocket attacks on Israel, a Hamas spokesman said today that Hamas would continue to refuse to recognize Israel.
Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said the agenda of the proposed unity government between Hamas and Fatah "will not recognize Israel and will not include accepting the two-state solution." Barhoum said the two-state solution is inherently unacceptable "because it represents a clear recognition of Israel... We reject joining in any government that recognizes Israel."
Opposition leader MK Binyamin Netanyahu said today, "The Palestinian government continues to identify with Iran and their goals of destroying Israel. You don't negotiate with a government that wants to destroy you; you try to topple it."
Public Security Minister Avi Dichter, currently in Los Angeles, said that the problem with Hamas is not something that a change of prime ministers could solve, nor should Israel deal with the proposed new government. "Shbair himself was director of a university that primed and raised terrorists who now fill Gaza," Dichter said. "What has to be changed is the entire conception of the Palestinian Authority government."
The European Union welcomed the prospect of a U.S.-educated professor leading a new unity government, but emphasized there would be no change in its demands. The Quartet demands that the PA formally recognize the State of Israel, renounce violence and uphold agreements with Israel signed by the previous PA government.