By Saud Abu Ramadan

A new Palestinian government led by Prime Minister Salam Fayyad was sworn in Tuesday in the West Bank of Ramallah. Palestinians and local observers believe that Fayyad is walking on a thorny political road ahead with many challenges.

The major difficulty facing Fayyad and his government is that he is stuck in the internal Palestinian crisis -- the political rift between the geographically divided West Bank, dominated by President Mahmoud Abbas, and the Gaza Strip, where Hamas keeps tight control.

Fatah movement loyal to Abbas officially decided to boycott Fayyad's new government, although Fayyad and Abbas guaranteed that once a unity government including both Fatah and Hamas is formed, the Palestinian government will immediately resign.

Fatah's decision to officially stay away from the new government, but allowed Fatah members to join as independents came against the backdrop that it is engaged in reconciliation talks with Hamas for the painful delivery of a unity government acceptable to the international community, local observers said.

Other difficulties that are challenging Fayyad are the Israeli policy of settlement expansion in the West Bank and the resumption of peace negotiations with the government of Benjamin Netanyahu that basically rejects the vision of the two-sate solution.

One more hurdle on Fayyad's political road is the financial crisis that the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) suffers from. He has to make sure that he covers all the running costs, mainly paying the salaries of around 120,000 civil and security servants in both Gaza and the West Bank.

Moreover, Palestinian observers also questioned the agenda of the government besides its legitimacy.

Ali Obaidat, an analyst from the West Bank, told Xinhua by telephone that "this government should stick more to the issues of the people and the home, made change to the better and enjoyed a level of transparency."

Obaidat criticized the government of "leaving behind a big address and one of the national principles, which is the prisoners' portfolio."

Fayyad initially intended to include 10 Fatah members in his government, two of whom decided not to join. One of them is the Minister of Prisoners' Affairs Issa Qaraqe'e, whose absence could be a result of Fatah's boycott, Obaidat said.

However, the government's swearing-in ceremony should not have taken place without the presence of a prisoners' minister "since his portfolio was one of the most important ones," he said.

Palestinians in general said that the new government and the political and public din that accompanied its formation have neither brought good news to the people nor assured them of a clear term.

Hamas believes that the reshuffle of the government in the West Bank without its involvement means nothing.

"As long as Hamas doesn't recognize any government formed in Ramallah by Fayyad or anybody else, it will keep saying that these governments are illegal since it hasn't taken its legitimacy from the parliament it dominates," said Ahmed Zaqout, a Palestinian analyst from Gaza.

Hamas and Fatah had tried five rounds of dialogue in Cairo. The latest round which was held early this week failed to agree on substantial issues related to security, elections and government.

Ibraheem Abrash, a scholar who has held the culture portfolio for seven months in the former Fayyad-led caretaker government before he resigned and returned to the Gaza Strip, said "the recent reshuffle changed nothing but faces."

"But the judgment on the government can be based on its trends and since Salam Fayyad is the premier, his trend and way will predominate and the government agenda will be similar to the previous one," Abrash explained.

Though some of the Palestinian factions joined the government, they will not be able to have that much influence on its work "because they are small groups and the main big powers (Hamas and Fatah) are absent from this government."

He said "Fayyad's government will enjoy less popularity, legitimacy and support than his former caretaker administration. At least, Fatah adopted the former government though it did not actually participate," Abrash said.

Abbas insisted on forming the government because he wants to show his clout over the West Bank before he visits Washington later this month, Abrash said. "So he can go there and say that he has come after settling the internal Palestinian situation."

It seems that Abbas has reached a conclusion that the reconciliation talks between his party and Hamas will take longer time and the Palestinians have to be more patient to wait to see whether Egypt is able to oblige Fatah and Hamas to sign an agreement on July 7 as planned, the observers said.

(Xinhua News Agency May 21, 2009)