Mohammed Shbeir, former president of the Islamic University of Gaza, will head a new national unity government.

Gaza (AsiaNews) – Mohammed Shbeir, a former head of Gaza's Islamic University, will be the new Palestinian prime minister in charge of a national unity government, an indispensable move not only for renewing the flow of international aid into Palestinian coffers but also to put a stop to Hamas-Fatah clashes. Although the official announcement won't be made before a few days, both Hamas and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas have confirmed the news.

Shbeir, who received his doctorate in microbiology from West Virginia University, served for 15 years as president of the Islamic University in Gaza where he lives with his wife and six children.

The Palestinian President's Office said that he was chosen from a list of three names proposed by Hamas.

Al-Jazeera describes him as having "close ties to Hamas," but with "good relations with all the Palestinian factions" and who "frequently met the late Yasser Arafat".

Israeli daily Haaretz writes that he is "considered to be relatively moderate".

Similarly, the Jerusalem Post writes that he is "close to Hamas, but [. . .] not an active supporter".

Haaretz also writes that the two main Palestinian parties hope that Shbeir "will be acceptable to the international community and [. . .] help convince the West to lift debilitating economic sanctions."

President Abbas also hopes to make Ziad Abu Amar foreign minister. Similarly, the Jerusalem Post writes that Abbas wants Salam Fayyad, an internationally respected economist, to serve as finance minister.

The new cabinet should include well-known moderates and thus be more acceptable to the outside world. According to the daily Al-Ayam the new government is likely to include eight Hamas members, six from Fatah, six from other parties and four independents.

However, no official announcement will be made before President Abbas gets international sanctions lifted. They were imposed in March when the Hamas government took over and the financial crunch that followed crippled the Palestinian economy and weakened the Hamas government led by Ismail Haniyeh to the point of complete paralysis.

Abbas is currently in Jordan for consultations with King Abdallah over how to best lift the sanctions, whilst Mustafa Barghuti, an independent politician close to Fatah who has acted as a mediator between Hamas and Fatah, will meet Hamas leader Khaled Meshal in Damascus today.

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