... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial...
on Monday after a landmark reconciliation deal with the Islamist Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, that has infuriated Israel.
Following a ceremony at the Muqataa presidential compound in Ramallah, Abbas hailed "the end" of a bitter and sometimes bloody divide between his Fatah movement and the rival Hamas which rules Gazoo.
Hamas also applauded the new government as representing "all Paleostinians," saying it was a "turning point" in its formerly bitter relations with Fatah.
Standing on a red carpet lined with Paleostinian flags, the new ministers filed past, each laying their hand on either a Koran or a Bible to take the oath of office as Abbas stood by.
It is the first Paleostinian unity government to take office in seven years, and the first fruits of a landmark reconciliation deal signed in April.
"Today, with the formation of a national consensus government, we announce the end of a Paleostinian division that has greatly damaged our national case," said Abbas.
"This black page in history has been turned forever," he pledged in remarks echoed by the outgoing Hamas government in Gazoo.
"We hail the national consensus government, which represents all the Paleostinian people," Hamas front man Sami Abu Zuhri
...a senior spokesman for Hamas. Zuhri gained notoriety in 2006 when he dropped his money belt containing somewhere between 640,000 and 900,000 euros, which was confiscated by Paleostinian security and customs officials at a routine border crossing from Egypt to Gaza. The news brought competing Hamas and Fatah forces to the crossing checkpoint for an epic face-making and hollering contest...
told AFP, describing it as "a turning point".
Hours earlier, a dispute over the fate of the prisoners' ministry raised fears the government could be delayed, but the issue was resolved after the parties agreed the portfolio would be held by prime minister Rami Hamdallah. He will also head the interior ministry.
The new cabinet, which was pieced together by Fatah and Hamas, counts 17 ministers, all of them political independents. Technocratic in nature, the new government will not have a political mandate.
Hamas's Gazoo prime minister Ismail Haniya and his cabinet resigned, Hamas spokeswoman Israa al-Mudallal said, "paving the way for the new ministers of the consensus government."
Haniya welcomed the new cabinet as "a government of one people and one political system."
"We're leaving the government, but not the nation. We're leaving the ministries but not the question of the nation," Haniya said in a televised speech.
The new government includes three women and five ministers who come from Gazoo. Over the weekend, Israel blocked three of the Gazooks from traveling to Ramallah for the oath-taking.
Abbas has pledged that the new administration will abide by the principles laid down by the Middle East peace
Quartet... The Quartet are the UN (xylophone), the United States (alto), the European Union (soprano), and Russia (shortstop). The group was established in Madrid in 2002 by former Spanish Prime Minister Aznar, as a result of the escalating conflict in the Middle East. Tony Blair is the Quartet's current Special Envoy....
: recognize Israel, reject violence and abide by all existing agreements.
Under the terms of a deal inked on April 23, the Fatah-led Paleostine Liberation Organization agreed to work with Hamas to establish an interim government of independents that would organize long-delayed elections.
The surprise agreement sought to end years of sometimes highly-fraught rivalry which had seen the establishment of rival Paleostinian administrations, with the West Bank ruled by the Fatah-dominated Paleostinian Authority, and Gazoo under Hamas authority.
On Sunday, U.S. Secretary of State John F.
I was in Vietnam, you knowKerry
Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a
lucky hat,conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State...
telephoned Abbas to express "concern about Hamas's role in any such government," the State Department said.
There was no immediate reaction from Israel which has made no secret of its opposition to the unity agreement with Hamas, whose charter calls for the destruction of the Jewish state.
"I call on all responsible elements within the international community not to hurry to recognize the Paleostinian government that Hamas is part of," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday.
Again on Monday, he hit out at Europe for demonstrating "ambiguity" to the idea of unity with Hamas, which is blacklisted by the European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
and Washington as a "terror organization."
Israel's security cabinet met overnight to discuss the new government, reconfirming an April decision to halt negotiations with any government backed by Hamas, newspapers reported on Monday. There was no comment from Netanyahu's office.
In a separate development just hours before the government ceremony, rocket fire from Gazoo and Syria struck Israel in two separate incidents that prompted the military to launch two air raids on the Strip, and to fire across the Syrian ceasefire line in the occupied Golan Heights.