A hardline Palestinian nationalist group, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, today called on parliament to reject the reformist cabinet of prime-minister-designate Mahmud Abbas, saying it had been "imposed" by US pressure.
"We call on the Palestinian Legislative Council to reject this government imposed by US blackmail, pressure and intervention in our internal affairs," the left-wing PFLP said in a statement issued in Gaza.
It said the cabinet, which Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat reluctantly agreed to last week after massive pressure from the international community, only dealt with security issues and included too few new faces, as demanded by reformists in parliament.
Washington had said it would only publish the international peace "roadmap," setting out the steps to ending the conflict and establishing a Palestinian state, once the Mr Abbas cabinet was sworn in.
Mr Abbas is to present his new line-up, in which he features as interior minister with a new security chief tasked with cracking down on hardliners, on Tuesday.
The PFLP called for democratic elections for the Palestinian people to choose their own leaders.
Mr Arafat had called elections for January, but the electoral committee said was not possible to hold polls until after the Israeli army withdraws from self-rule areas reoccupied by the Israeli army since last June.
The PFLP rejected the 1993 Oslo peace accords with Israel and has carried out some attacks during the 31-month Palestinian intifada, the violent struggle to force Israel out of the territories.
AFP