Kerry: Palestine’s New ‘Technocratic Government has No Ministers Affiliated With Hamas’

In fact, most of the key cabinet positions...are the very same as in the prior government’

Kerry: Palestine's New 'Technocratic Government has No Ministers Affiliated With Hamas' (NoMoreCocktails.com)

At a press conference in Beirut, Secretary of State John Kerry is asked about the Unity Government in Palestine.

"President Abbas made clear that this new technocratic government is committed to the principles of nonviolence, negotiations, recognizing the state of Israel, acceptance of the previous agreements and the Quartet principles, and that they will continue their previously agreed upon security cooperation with Israel. Now, that’s what he has said. He has formed an interim technocratic government that does not include any ministers who are affiliated with Hamas. We have checked that. In fact, most of the key cabinet positions – including the prime minister, the two deputy prime ministers, and the finance ministers – are the very same as in the prior government. And they are all technocrats unaffiliated with any political party and they are responsible for facilitating new elections."

"At the moment, we don’t have that, and so we are looking to see as we go forward on a day-to-day evaluation – we will measure the composition, we will measure the policies of the new technocratic government, and we will calibrate our approach accordingly. So that is, I think, a much more precise description of exactly what the status is today."

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