New PA Unity Government leaves loose ends in rleation to

March 15, 2007
Haaretz
"Abbas, Haniyeh finalize PA unity government deal despite fresh clashes"
by:Haaretz Service and News Agencies
http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/837793.html

At the same time the PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh agreed on the composition of the new unified government, nine people (including two children) were wounded in an outbreak of factional violence in the Gaza strip. Still however, according to Haniyeh, "Today is an occasion to celebrate."
But who is celebrating? Definitely not Israelis or Americans whose peace talks in the past weeks failed to be productive because of the build up to this moment.
The full lineup of the new unity government cabinet will be made public Thursday, and submitted for parliament approval Saturday.
The fighting that emerged at the same time the unity government was formed began, according to a Fatah commander, after Hamas men had abducted a gunman during a shootout. Four Hamas men and one Fatah man were taken hostage, according to the general.
Under the new government, Hamas will will have nine cabinet posts, and Fatah will get six (Yet another intricacy the US, Israel and probably the EU will have problems with, seeing as they all three have deemed Hamas, who will be holding the majority stake in the new government, a terrorist organization.). The new government will hold a special session on Saturday morning to discuss the political platform of the newly formed government and hold a vote of confidence.
Israel, who previously got along with Fatah government officials to a significant degree, has sworn to boycott the unity government, including the non-Hamas officers, unless the government officially recognizes Israel, renounces violence and accepts interim peace deals.
The agreement of the unity government, "contains a vague promise to "respect' previous Israeli-Palestinian pacts. It does not commit the incoming government to abide by those pacts, nor recognize Israel and renounce violence," the article says. A failure to recognize Israel, end violence and engage in peace plans would put the newly formed government out of sorts with the US, EU, UN, Russia and Israel, among others.
The factional fighting put Abbas and Haniyeh under pressure to cut the deal quickly. Hamas blamed Fatah-loyal security forces for a killing in Gaza City, but Fatah denied any responsibility, this being only one of several attacks between members of Palestinian factions in the West Bank/Gaza region.

In my opinion, the new PA unity government is not a good thing for Israel. First off, the new PA government is mainly controlled by Hamas, the group Israel had been fighting to get out of power, and who was replaced by a more (supposedly) cooperative Fatah government. Regardless of the fact that Fatah was supposed to be a more favorable party in the face of Israelis, Hamas still had informal control of Gaza and the West Bank. With Hamas having nine of 15 spots in the new government, they are basically regaining control. It is obvious from the violence that has emerged between Hamas and Fatah party members and that continues to go on between them that the two parties are not united in ideologies, aside from their dislike (outright hatred and denial on the Hamas side) for Israel and its very existence. The government is either going to be short-lived due to the inability of the parties to get along and make unified decisions, or a takeout by Israel because of continued violence. I don't see this government bringing any sort of additional peace to the troubled region, or otherwise improving the situation for Palestinians or Israelis.