Palestine Qatar and Egypt will help form new unity government, envoy says

The formation of a new Palestinian technocratic government will be aided by both Qatar and Egypt and involves consultations with all Palestinian political factions, including Hamas, the Palestinian ambassador to the UK, Husam Zomlot, said yesterday.

- Patrick Wintour

The move appears to be an attempt to show that a reformed interim Palestinian government that has roots in the entire Palestinian movement is ready to take over the governance of both Gaza and the West Bank soon after any ceasefire.

Zomlot stressed that Hamas would have no members in the new technocratic government, but the fact that it will be consulted shows efforts are under way to see if unity between Hamas and Fatah is achievable.

The Palestinian prime minister, Mohammad Shtayyeh, and his government resigned en masse on Monday, confirming that its recent attempts at internal reform had not been extensive enough.

The two factions have been divided since Hamas threw the Fatah movement out of Gaza in 2007.

Zomlot stressed this would be a purely technocratic government without factions. "It is designed to unify the Palestinians, their geography and polity," he said.

"The political landscape has changed. This is the time to hear our people, and not the time for political factions.

"We have a responsibility to provide a government that can provide for its people, unite our people and political system.

"The twin tasks of the government was to provide humanitarian supp and prepare for elections, as well as economic reforms." Talks on relations between the factions are due to start this week in Moscow.