Palestinian factions announced Monday that they have agreed to make Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas head of a proposed government made up of the secular Fatah Party and the Islamist militant movement Hamas, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Abbas, the leader of Fatah, would serve as president and prime minister. He replaces current Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. The move goes against the original agreement to create a nonpartisan government of technocrats from neither party, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The proposed government was supposed to end more than four years of feuding after Hamas militants took over the Gaza Strip and kicked out Fatah. The unity government would bring together the two rival governments created due to the conflict.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the deal was criticized as an effort to convince the Palestinian public that its leaders were reconciling. It also remains unclear whether Fayyad would stay on as finance minister, if Hamas leaders in Gaza would accept the agreement or who would control security forces.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also criticized the plan, according to the news organization, saying Abbas shouldn’t form a government with Hamas, a group the United States and Israel has labeled a terrorist organization for refusing to renounce violence.

“If [Abbas] acts on what was signed in Doha, he will be choosing to abandon the way of peace and joining with Hamas,” Netanyahu said. “I say you cannot hold both ends of the stick. It’s either peace with Hamas or peace with Isreal.”

 

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