Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas swore in at a public ceremony on Sunday an emergency cabinet formed after he dissolved a three-month-old Hamas-led unity government.
The Cabinet is led by economist Salam Fayyad, who will also serve as finance minister. In taking office, Fayyad said Sunday the new government would work to end the chaos and provide security for the Palestinians. "We are going to work with clean hands, systematically," he said, according to the AP.
Addressing the Palestinians in Gaza Strip, he said: "You are in our hearts, and the top of our agenda. The dark images, the shameful things that are alien to our traditions ... are not going to stop us." It is "time to work together for Palestine," he said.
Hamas on Sunday said it considers the new emergency Palestinian government illegal. "The Islamic Resistance Movement considers this government illegitimate and illegal," said Hamas spokesman Ismail Radwan. "We will not recognize it. We will not work with it."
