Ismail Haniyeh, a prominent Hamas lawmaker in the Gaza Strip seen as a leader of the group's pragmatic wing, was nominated Sunday to be Palestinian prime minister.

Haniyeh, 43, confirmed to reporters Sunday that he had been nominated for the post, a day after being sworn into the new Hamas-led Palestinian Parliament. Hamas first announced the appointment, which was widely expected, in a text message.

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas was expected later Sunday to formally charge Haniyeh with the task of putting together a new cabinet. Haniyeh would then have three weeks to submit a government to Abbas for approval.

Addressing the parliament on Saturday, Abbas said he expected Hamas to honor existing peace accords with Israel and halt violence. Hamas leaders rejected those calls, but signalled a willingness to compromise.

Israel's acting Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, on Sunday ruled out any contacts with a Hamas-led government. The group has killed hundreds of Israelis in suicide bombings and remains committed to Israel's destruction.

Born in Gaza's Shati refugee camp, Haniyeh graduated from Gaza City's Islamic University in 1987 with a degree in Arabic literature and became a close associate of Hamas founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin.
 
Haniyeh was expelled by Israel to south Lebanon in 1992, returned to Gaza a year later and became the dean of the Islamic University. In 1998, he took charge of Yassin's office.

A pragmatist, he served as a liaison between Hamas and Palestinian Authority, established in 1994 and dominated by the rival Fatah movement.

He rose to prominence after Israel's assassinations in 2004 of Yassin and Yassin's successor, Abdel Aziz Rantisi. Haniyeh, who escaped an Israeli assassination attempt in June 2003, has been a member of the political leadership of Hamas since the 1990s.

Israel settled yesterday for watered-down restrictions on the Palestinian Authority in an apparent nod to US calls to avoid adding to Palestinian hardship after Hamas' victory.

Olmert's cabinet reaffirmed a decision to halt the transfer to the cash-strapped authority of tax revenues that Israel collects on its behalf.

But it stopped short of adopting a blanket ban that Israeli defence officials had proposed on the entry of Palestinian workers to Israel and on Palestinian travel, through its territory, between Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

The Arab governments are considering providing the new Hamas-led government with millions of dollars in funding despite US oppositions, the head of the Arab League said yesterday.

Foreign ministers from several Arab countries will be meeting in Algiers today to work out plans to send some US$50 million monthly to the Palestinian Authority, Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa said.

(China Daily February 20, 2006)