Palestinian PM insists on right to armed resistance

Palestinian Minister Ismail Haniyeh presented yesterday a new Hamas-Fatah coalition government to parliament aimed at ending a turbulent year of bloodshed and international boycott.

But Israel said it would not have any contacts with the new Palestinian government as the latter refused to renounce terrorism and recognize Tel Aviv.

As Haniyeh reached out to allay Western concerns, he called for a Palestinian state on lands Israel occupied in 1967 and vowed his government would work toward the release of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

But Haniyeh also insisted on Palestinians' right to armed resistance, rejecting a key Western condition for ending a crippling aid freeze.

"The government will work with the international community to put an end to the occupation and recover the legitimate rights of our people, foremost among them the creation of an independent state enjoying full sovereignty in the territories occupied in 1967," Haniyeh said.

He said that the new unity Cabinet would "respect the resolutions of international legitimacy and the agreements signed by the Palestine Liberation Organization," one of the three Quartet conditions for ending the punishing aid boycott slapped on the Palestinian Authority after Hamas took power last year.

Haniyeh on the West to end the aid freeze and said his new government would work toward a prisoner exchange with Israel including Shalit, who was captured by Gaza militants last June.

In his speech, however, Haniyeh refused to renounce violence, insisting Palestinians have the right to resistance.

"The government affirms that resistance in all its forms to the occupation is a legitimate right guaranteed by international resolutions," he said.