Hamas has chosen a candidate to take over as prime minister from one of its leaders once an agreement on a unity government is finalised with President Mahmoud Abbas, said a spokesman for the Hamas-led administration on Monday. Ghazi Hamad declined to identify the groupÂ’s proposed replacement for Ismail Haniyeh in a deal with AbbasÂ’s Fatah group that Palestinians hope can ease Western sanctions aimed at pressuring Hamas to soften its anti-Israel line.
“There has been an agreement within Hamas over the name, which will be announced to the president in a meeting between him and the prime minister,” said Hamad, indicating the group reserved the right to pick the head of a new cabinet. Palestinian sources said Abbas and Haniyeh might meet later in the day. "You may call him Abu X." | Hamad did not say whether Hamas’s candidate belonged to the movement. “We are exerting every possible effort to conclude this in the near future. If we agree on the issue of the prime minister between the president and the party that names the prime minister, all other issues will be easy,” said Hamad. |