PPP to consider joining new government

PPP to consider participating in new Palestinian government

Date: 02 / 05 / 2009  Time:  18:22

Qalqiliya – Ma’an – The leftist Palestinian People’s Party (PPP) will consider joining a hypothetical Palestinian government to be announced soon, its secretary-general, Bassam As-Salhi, said on Saturday. “The party will think deeply on participating in any Palestnian government, the forming of which will be announced within the coming period of time,” As-Salhi said in an interview on Saturday. “Participating in any new government is not one of the party’s most pressing priorities, instead it is placing priority on agreeing to a Palestinian strategy that would empower the Palestinian stance in confronting the Israeli government,” he added. He also said the PPP would prioritize bringing Palestinians to rally around the Palestine Liberation Organization, as well as unifying Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. As-Salhi explained that joining a new government “will be based on serious and approved assessment in case the dialogue fails,” adding that at this time we will wait for clarifications on this issue, especially after the Egyptian leadership altered the mechanism for a comprehensive dialogue, replacing it with a bilateral one.” Concerning the prospect of suspending the dialogue for consultation, the PPP secretary-general said that “it is clear that the margin of independence of the Palestinian dialogue and its accomplishments is subject to international and regional influence, which is peaking.” He went on to say that “for that reason, we should not underestimate the clear Israeli attempts to take advantage [of the division] for the good of its vision to damage the Palestinian cause on the map of comprehensive arrangements in the region by using the weakness of the Palestinian stance, which is affected by division and the absence of a unified Arab strategy to deal with a new Middle East.” ***Get breaking news from Palestine: Click here to follow Ma’an on Twitter.

Palestinian reconciliation talks to begin Feb. 22 in Cairo

PPP: Unity talks scheduled for 22 February in Cairo

Date: 10 / 02 / 2009  Time:  10:17

Gaza – Ma’an – A member of the Palestinian People’s Party (PPP)’s politburo said Tuesday that Egyptian officials invited Palestinian factions to unity talks in Cairo on 22 February. Walid Al-Awad said in a statement that the invitation was sent to the general secretaries of all Palestinian factions so give them time to prep committees that will lead talks, adding that the committees hope to resolve outstanding issues by 28 February in Cairo. But Al-Awad said the invitation had “come too late,” especially after stepped-up efforts for a truce between Gaza factions and Israel had “badly damaged the national dialogue process.” “What we want is a Palestinian international reconciliation to oppose Israel’s aggression,” Al-Awad said.