Hamas: Interim govt can't re-unify security agencies

Senior Hamas leaders, Khalil al-Hayya and Ismail Radwan speak to the media Hamas leader Ismail Radwan said Thursday that re-unifying Palestinian security agencies was beyond the authority of the interim government supposed to be led by President Mahmoud Abbas. Radwan's remarks came as officials from both Fatah and Hamas met in Cairo to discuss the formation of the reconciliation interim government they expect to announce on June 20, pending approval by both parties' officials.
"The reconciliation government has only three certain missions; making the needed preparations for the legislative elections, implementing the recommendations of the commission of freedoms and resuming the reconstruction process in Gaza," said Radwan.
The head of Fatah's delegation to Cairo, Azzam al-Ahmad, had earlier stated that the expected interim government will be authorised to merge the security agencies in Gaza and the West Bank.
He told Voice of Palestine radio that the re-unification process will begin with the police administration and civil security -- which Radwan has explicitly denied.
"As for the security issue, there will be security committee sponsored by Egypt according to the Cairo agreement," said Radwan before the latest dialogue session in Cairo.
Sources have said that security issues have been disputed between the delegations of Fatah and Hamas. Fatah is keen to hold the security re-unification process before the legislative elections, while Hamas strongly rejected the proposal especially for the Preventive Security Agency, which Hamas had dissolved in the Strip since 2007.
Fatah and Hamas delegations are supposed to discuss in Cairo, for the first time, names of the cabinet members, but the final decision on the names and the cabinet will be decided in the Abbas-Khaled Meshaal meeting planned on June 20.
Previous agreements have stated that cabinet members should be highly qualified independent figures, who enjoy the trust of all Palestinian parties and movements.