Fatah official: No positions agreed for joint govt

A senior Fatah official said Sunday that his party and Hamas have yet to agree on the names of cabinet ministers in a joint administration of independent figures. President Mahmoud Abbas assured earlier Sunday that the new Palestinian government of independent figures will be announced in the "next few days." The president and Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal were expected to meet in Cairo on June 20 to select cabinet ministers for the transitional administration, which is to sit for six months in the run up to elections. But Fatah office Secretary-General Amin Maqboul said Egypt, the sponsor of last year's reconciliation deal to end the rival party administrations, was busy with its own presidential election, and thus no date had been set. Hamas and Fatah have led separate governments in Gaza and the West Bank since they split amid bitter fighting in 2007. In May 2011, Abbas and Hamas chief Khalid Mashaal pledged in Cairo to form a government to prepare for elections within one year. More than a year on, both parties have failed to implement the deal, with each side blaming the other for the impasse.