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| Ismail Haniyeh, a prominent Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip, was nominated Sunday to be Palestinian prime minister. |
Ismail Haniyeh, a prominent Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip, was nominated Sunday to be Palestinian prime minister.
The militant group announced thenominationin a text message, a day after its members weresworn intothe new Hamas-dominated Palestinian parliament. The nomination was widely expected.
"I pray to god to help me bear the responsibility and serve the Palestinian cause until the Palestinian people are given back their rights," Haniyeh said.
"We will avoid a confrontation (with Fatah) especially as the occupation refuses to acknowledge the Palestinians' rights and refuses to acknowledge the agreements it signed with the Palestinian Authority."
Haniyeh, 46, is seen as a leader of the morepragmaticwing of Hamas.
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas was expected later Sunday to formally charge Haniyeh with the task of putting together a new cabinet. Haniyeh would then have three weeks to submit a government to Abbas for approval.
On Saturday Abbas told the Palestinian parliament at its swearing-in session that the PA and its new government are committed to all agreements signed with Israel, including the Oslo Accords, and to putting a stop to the anarchy in the PA.
Following Abbas' speech, Aziz Duweik, a senior Hamas leader from Hebron, was elected speaker. In his maiden speech Duweik said, "We at Hamas accept in principle the signed agreements that serve the Palestinian people. I doubt that there will be a constitutional crisis between the new cabinet and parliament and the PA chairman."
A pragmatist Hamas veteran
Born in Gaza's Shati refugee camp, Haniyeh graduated from Gaza City's Islamic University in 1987 with a degree in Arabic literature and became a close associate of Hamas founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin.
Haniyeh was expelled by Israel to south Lebanon in 1992, returned to Gaza a year later and became the dean of the Islamic University. In 1998, he took charge of Yassin's office.
A pragmatist, he served as a liaison between Hamas and Palestinian Authority, established in 1994 and dominated by the rival Fatah movement.
Herose to prominenceafter Israel's assassinations in 2004 of Yassin and Yassin's successor, Abdel Aziz Rantisi. He has been a member of the political leadership of Hamas since the 1990s.
(Agencies)
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Updated: 2006-02-20 14:02
