Hamas has chosen a candidate to take over as prime minister from one of its leaders once an agreement on a unity government is finalised with President Mahmoud Abbas, said a spokesman for the Hamas-led administration on Monday. Ghazi Hamad declined to identify the group’s proposed replacement for Ismail Haniyeh in a deal with Abbas’s Fatah group that Palestinians hope can ease Western sanctions aimed at pressuring Hamas to soften its anti-Israel line. “There has been an agreement within Hamas over the name, which will be announced to the president in a meeting between him and the prime minister,” said Hamad, indicating the group reserved the right to pick the head of a new cabinet. Palestinian sources said Abbas and Haniyeh might meet later in the day.
| "You may call him Abu X." |