Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas swore in members of the new unity government on Monday afternoon in Ramallah. The 17-minister technocratic government, including five ministers from the Gaza Strip, will rule over the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

“Today, with the formation of a national consensus government, we announce the end of a Palestinian division that has greatly damaged our national case,” Abbas declared at the swearing-in ceremony. He continued, “The black page in the history (of the Palestinians) has been turned forever, and we will not allow it to come back.”

The deal was finally struck after Abbas yielded to Hamas’s demand to have a separate ministerial portfolio for prisoner affairs, instead of the role being relegated to a committee. This sticking point is likely an indication of the future pressure Hamas wishes to place upon Israel to release more terrorist operatives from Israeli prisons.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-l-Up4sDRTE&feature=youtu.be

Palestinian Authority swearing-in ceremony in Ramallah, Israel on June 2

A day earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu formed an emergency cabinet meeting, calling on world leaders not to recognize the newly forming Palestinian government. “Hamas is a terrorist organization that calls for Israel’s destruction, and the international community must not embrace it,” he said. “That would not bolster peace, it would strengthen terror.”

As previously reported in the Trumpet, a reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah is bad news for Israel, as Hamas continually refuses to renounce its terrorist activities against the Jewish state.