Palestinian movement Fatah yesterday launched discussions about forming a new government without Hamas and Islamic Jihad, a senior Fatah leader announced

Secretary of Fatah’s Revolutionary Council Majed Al-Fityani said that the PLO’s Central Committee decided that the current government had completed its mission and there is a need for a new “political” one.

He pointed out that the new government would be formed only from the PLO factions. This means that Hamas, which won an overwhelming majority in the last general elections held in 2006, Islamic Jihad, Al-Ahrar Movement, the Popular Resistance Movement and others are to be excluded.

Al-Fityani said this was being done because “the internal complexity of the Palestinian situation and the external conspiracies against the Palestinian cause emphasis the need for this government.”

“There is no timetable for the discussions because they will continue until they reach results that maintain the dignity of the Palestinian people and set the foundations for a new stage of partnership which will be able to undermine all challenges.”

He said that a report about the discussions related to the government would be handed over to the PLO, Palestinian Authority Palestinian Mahmoud Abbas and the Fatah Central Council in order for the government to be formed.

The government will be headed by Fatah, Al-Fityani said because it is “the largest” Palestinian faction.