Saudi media claims that Egypt has proposed Mahmoud Abbas to be the interim Palestinian government's PM

A Saudi newspaper has claimed that the military government in Cairo is communicating with Fatah and Hamas in an effort to save the reconciliation agreement that was signed between Palestinian factions last month in the Egyptian capital. The Egyptians have, it is alleged, proposed that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas becomes the Prime Minister in order to resolve the dispute between the factions over who should head the “technocrat” government approved by the reconciliation agreement.

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Egyptian sources told Al-Madina newspaper that the proposal includes the appointment of two deputy prime ministers, one based in Gaza, the other in Ramallah. Fatah and Hamas have said that they will consider the proposal. If they agree to it, Fatah’s Abbas and the head of the political bureau of Hamas, Khaled Meshaal, will travel to Cairo to announce the formation of the new government.

According to the head of the media office of the Palestinian Authority in Gaza, Hassan Abu Hashish, Hamas only has reservations about Fatah’s nominee for the interim prime minister’s post, the current incumbent in Ramallah, Salam Fayyad. He, claims Hamas, is part of the problem behind the Palestinian national division and has played a key role in continuing it. Abu Hashish added that Mahmoud Abbas’s insistence on Fayyad as prime minister conflicts with the reconciliation agreement which requires the formation of a national consensus government made up of independent figures.