Abbas picks independent Salam Fayyad as new PM

[oberliner]

Finance Minister Salam Fayyad, an independent, has been chosen as the new Palestinian prime minister, an aide to Palestinian Chairman Mahmoud Abbas said Friday.

"President Abbas has officially appointed Salam Fayyad to be the next prime minister, and Fayyad has already begun consultations to form the emergency government," Nabil Amr, Abbas's media adviser, said.

Fayyad, who is well respected by the international community, would replace Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas, who was fired by Abbas on Thursday, after Hamas took control of Gaza by force.

Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri urged the former World Bank official to turn down the new post and "not to pose himself a party to this problem".

"The appointment of Salam Fayyad as a head of the emergency government is a coup against legitimacy ... We ask President Abbas to withdraw the decision in order to preserve the integrity of our people," Abu Zuhri said.

http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/871314.html

[barb162]

1. Now there are two Prime Ministers who don't recognize the

legitimacy of the other.

"The appointment of Salam Fayyad as a head of the emergency government is a coup against legitimacy ... We ask President Abbas to withdraw the decision in order to preserve the integrity of our people," Abu Zuhri said."

[barb162]

2. The Rafah crossing section farther down the page

"Earlier on Friday, Hamas announced that it plans to take control of the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt.

....

Both Egyptian security forces and the Israel Defense Forces are preparing for the possibility that masses of Palestinians will attempt to flee Gaza, Israel Radio reported Friday.

Egypt is bolstering its border with Gaza and sending armored vehicles and water hoses to keep potential refugees out of the country, the Arabic language newspaper Al-Quds Al-Arabi reported Friday, according to the radio."

This could get dicey, to say the least. What will the EU monitors do? Israel?