Israel press hails new Palestinian PM as moderate

Rami Hamdallah, the Nablus academic who has been tasked by Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas with forming a new Ramallah-based government, is seen by Israel as a moderate pragmatist, commentators said on Monday. Israel gave no official response to the announcement late Sunday that Hamdallah would take over as premier after Salam Fayyad stood down, but Israeli pundits described him as a figure who would be acceptable to the West and would not pose any internal threat to Abbas. "Israeli officials see Rami Hamdallah as a moderate and a pragmatist who will follow the same political line as his predecessor," army radio said. "Rami Hamdallah is close to Mahmud Abbas, he won't overshadow him. He is more of a manager and not really a political leader, whereas Salam Fayyad appeared more and more like a rival to Abbas," it said. He was also someone who "knows how to speak to the West," it said. Unnamed Israeli sources quoted by Haaretz newspaper described Hamdallah as "pragmatic" with respect to negotiations with Israel, which Washington is currently trying to revive, and said he had "developed professional contacts with many Israelis" over the years. The 54-year-old, who is president of Al-Najah University in Nablus and secretary general of the Central Elections Commission, was named as the new prime minister on Sunday night, some seven weeks after Fayyad resigned from his post. "The government will be formed in the coming days," said Hamdallah who belongs to Abbas's ruling Fatah party and who previously headed the Palestinian Stock Exchange.