Abbas to meet Hamdallah on new government

President Mahmoud Abbas will meet caretaker prime minister Rami Hamdallah on Monday to discuss the new government formation, the president’s adviser said. Nimr Hammad said that Abbas would return to the West Bank on Monday, but did not determine if Hamdallah would announce the new cabinet on Tuesday or not. Abbas asked Hamdallah to form the new government on Aug. 13, and gave him a time-frame of 5 weeks. A minister who requested anonymity told Ma’an that he did not know the date for announcing the new government and added that it was between the Abbas and Hamdallah now. Hamdallah resigned on June 23 after just over two weeks on the job, and was appointed interim prime minister. Azzam al-Ahmad, speaker of Fatah in parliament, told Ma’an earlier that the new government will not be a national consensus government nor a caretaker government. “It will be a regular government due to failure to implement a reconciliation agreement between Fatah and Hamas which was due on Aug. 14.” No major changes will be introduced to the new government, al-Ahmad added. Source: Maan