"Hamas has become the majority in the Legislative Council and it will be tasked with the formation of the new government," Abbas said. (Reuters)

RAMALLAH, West Bank, February 18, 2006 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – The new Palestinian parliament which was sworn in on Saturday, February 18, elected a Hamas MP as its new speaker, as the resistance movement named its senior leader Ismail Haniyeh to form the new government.

"Hamas has become the majority in the Legislative Council and it will be tasked with the formation of the new government," President Mahmoud Abbas told the inauguration of the newly-elected legislature, reported Reuters.

Abbas will go to Gaza on Sunday, February 19, to formally ask the Hamas prime minister to form the next cabinet.

Hamas, which swept the legislative polls, winning a surprising 74 of the 132-seat legislature, against 45 for the Fatah party, has five weeks to set up its government.

The resistance group said it was working to draw other Palestinian factions into a national unity government.

On Saturday, February 4, Hamas politburo member Khalil Abu Lila had told IslamOnline.net the group has already settled on the names of the prime minister and ministers of the new government, but only awaited the go-ahead from Abbas.

Premier Haniyeh

Haniyeh said Hamas will "resolve differences with the president through dialogue." (Reuters)

A few hours before being elected new speaker of the Palestinian parliament, Hamas MP Aziz Dweik said the resistance group has chosen Haniyeh to be the next premier.

"Hamas has decided that Ismael Haniyeh will be the prime minister for the next government," he told reporters in the West Bank city of Ramallah ahead of the swearing-in.

Hamas leaders distanced themselves Abbas's calls for a negotiated settlement to the conflict with Israel while stressing that political differences would be resolved through dialogue.

"The speech by president Abbas included some positive points but we do have differences about the political part of his speech, as he has his program and we have ours," Haniya told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"These differences about our positions and political program will be resolved by dialogue and through coordination, in the interests of the Palestinian people," he added.

"Hamas has its own program and political vision and we are going to resolve these differences with the president through dialogue."

In his speech, Abbas said that the new government must respect commitment to the negotiations approach "as a strategic, pragmatic political choice."

He urged the continuation of a truce that he agreed with Israel more than a year ago.

Hamas and other Palestinian factions have abided by the truce, which official expired by the end of last year, despite repeated Israeli violations.

In an early sign of how Israel intends to deal with the new government, Haniya and all Hamas MPs had to watch proceedings via video link rather than in person at the Ramallah-based parliament after Israel refused to issue them travel permits to the West Bank .

The Israeli cabinet will consider on Sunday, February 19, tough measures against a Hamas-led government, possibly banning laborers and goods from entering Israel from Gaza .

The swearing-in of only the second ever Palestinian parliament is set to trigger a series of Israeli sanctions, including a halt to the payment of customs duties owed to the Palestinian Authority.

Washington has asked the Palestinian Authority to return $50 million in US on the ground it feared the money would go to Hamas.

In his speech, Abbas urged Israel and the international community not to "punish" voters for their democratic choice.

"The Palestinian people should not be punished for making their democratic choice. The Palestinian leadership, and I personally, reject this blackmail and appeal to the international community to renounce it."