Hamas doubts Qurei's call for Palestinian national coalition government

Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) doubted on Wednesday Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei's statements he made in Gaza on Tuesday calling to form a national Palestinian coalition government.

At the weekly cabinet meeting in Gaza on Tuesday, Qurei called upon the Palestinian factions and political groups to form a national unity government to be able to face the challenges of the Israeli withdrawal.

Israel is expected to withdraw from all the 21 settlements in Gaza Strip and 4 of the 120 in northern West Bank in mid-August as part of implementing its unilateral disengagement plan with the Palestinians.

Sami Abu Zuhri, Hamas spokesman in Gaza told reporters that his movement "doesn't seriously consider the call of the Palestinian (National) Authority to form a national unity government to observe the Israeli withdrawal."

"Qurei's invitation that came through the mass media and was not presented before the Palestinian powers and factions,' Abu Zuhri said. "We still stick to our position and our demands."

He added that Hamas had repeatedly urged Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to form a national-Islamic committee that would include all factions "in order to observe and coordinate the Israeli withdrawal."

"It was agreed with President Abbas, and until now we haven't seen any commitment to forming the committee. We are certain that the Palestinian (National) Authority wouldn't be able to run the withdrawal by itself."

Qurei has earlier expressed his readiness "to discuss forming a national unity Palestinian government if the Palestinian factions would like to."

Commenting on a question if he has intentions to reshuffle his cabinet, Qurei told reporters on Tuesday in Gaza that "the current Palestinian cabinet will remain as it is, and if the factions would like to join, we have no problem."

"Let us call this cabinet, a government of withdrawal or a government of liberation or a government of a national unity," Qurei said.

Source: Xinhua