Fayyad: National unity is our goal

After a public spat over his candidacy, Ramallah Prime Minister Salam Fayyad announced Tuesday that he was ready to accept the decision of unity negotiators in Cairo when they announce the make-up of the transitional government. In a press conference held with the head of the European Parliament Jerry Buzique, Fayyad said: ”What is important for us is unity and reconciliation and I won’t be a hurdle in front of any solutions. I hope that the new government will be formed this week and real action can start." Days earlier, Hamas publicly rejected a leaked Fatah proposal nominating Fayyad as the head of the new transitional unity government being cobbled together in Cairo. "Hamas will not agree on Salam Fayyad as a prime minister, or even a minister in the upcoming unity government," a party spokesman said in a statement on Sunday. Fayyad dismissed suggestions that Palestinian efforts at reconciliation were a detrimental unilateral move, instead suggesting that Israeli settlements were the real obstacle to peace. He went on to stress that any future Palestinian state should be based on 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.