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Abbas to head interim Palestinian government - officials Mahmoud Abbas to head interim Palestinian government
(about 2 hours later)
Rival Palestinian factions have agreed to name President Mahmoud Abbas head of an interim government which would prepare for elections, officials say. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has said he will head a Palestinian unity government after a second meeting with rival Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal.
The deal was reached during talks in Qatar on Sunday, between Fatah leader Mr Abbas and Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The interim government is to prepare polls in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
A further meeting and a formal announcement are expected on Monday. Mr Abbas and Mr Meshaal have been holding talks in Qatar over the reconciliation deal reached in April 2011 and who would head the government.
A reconciliation deal reached in April last year provided for May 2012 polls. Correspondents say the issue has been one of the main stumbling blocks to implementing the April agreement.
Correspondents say the issue has been one of the main stumbling blocks to implementing the April agreement, but that it may now be too late to organise May elections. They say it may now be too late to organise May elections.
The reconciliation deal sought to end more than four years of separate governments in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip and the West Bank, ruled by Mr Abbas's Western-backed Palestinian Authority. The government will be made up of technocrats and independents, reports say.
The reconciliation deal sought to end more than four years of separate governments in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip and the West Bank, areas of which are governed by Mr Abbas's Western-backed Palestinian Authority.
As part of the deal, an interim unity government was to prepare for presidential and parliamentary elections.As part of the deal, an interim unity government was to prepare for presidential and parliamentary elections.
But Hamas strongly opposed Mr Abbas's initial choice of Salam Fayyad, the current prime minister of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.