Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad resigned as head of an emergency government and was immediately appointed Saturday to lead an interim Cabinet, after a state of emergency imposed after Hamas' Gaza takeover expired. Fayyad's resignation and reappointment were part of a move by moderate President Mahmoud Abbas to consolidate his control over the West Bank, the Associated Press reported. Hamas alleged that Abbas' decisions in the past month, including forming the emergency Cabinet, were not legal. «This government, from the outset, is unconstitutional,» Ahmed Bahar of Hamas, the acting parliament speaker, said Saturday. In a countermove, Bahar convened a special session of parliament Sunday to challenge Abbas' decisions. By law, any new government requires parliament approval. However, the legislature has been paralyzed as a result of the power struggle between Hamas and Abbas' Fatah movement. Hamas formally holds a majority, with 74 of 132 parliament seats. However, in the past year, more than three dozen Hamas lawmakers were arrested by Israel, giving Fatah a slim majority among legislators able to attend. As a result, Hamas has avoided convening parliament, for fear of being outvoted by Fatah.
