The Second Haniyeh Government, also known as the Palestinian National Unity Government of March 2007 (), was a

Palestinian Authority The Palestinian Authority (PA), officially known as the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), is the Fatah-controlled government body that exercises partial civil control over the Palestinian enclaves in the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, ...

unity government headed by

Ismail Haniyeh Ismail Haniyeh (, ; 29 January 1962 – 31 July 2024) was a Palestinian politician who served as third chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau from May 2017 until Assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, his assassination in July 2024. He also served as ...

, the

Prime Minister of the Palestinian National Authority The prime minister of the Palestinian National Authority was the position of the official head of government of the Palestinian Authority government, which operated between March 2003 and January 2013, when it was officially transformed into t ...

that was formed on 17 March 2007 and dissolved on 14 June 2007. The Unity Government was formed on 17 March 2007 following negotiations in Mecca, but due to failing international support (because it did not meet the conditions required by the

Quartet on the Middle East The Quartet on the Middle East or Middle East Quartet, sometimes called the Diplomatic Quartet or Madrid Quartet or simply the Quartet, is a foursome of nations and international and supranational entities involved in mediating the Israeli� ...

), it was short-lived. Israel immediately rejected the Government and said it will deal with Abbas, but not with the new government unless it recognizes the Jewish state. Israeli officials said they would try to persuade the world not to deal with the government. The Government was dissolved by President Mahmoud Abbas on 14 June 2007 after the Hamas takeover of Gaza.

Background

Hamas decisively won the

2006 Palestinian legislative election Legislative elections were held in the Palestinian territories on 25 January 2006 in order to elect the second Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), the legislature of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA). The result was a victory for Hama ...

held on 25 January 2006. Israel and the

had previously stated that their continued aid to and dialogue with the PA under a Hamas government was conditional on Hamas agreeing to three conditions: recognition of Israel, the disavowal of violent actions, and acceptance of previous agreements between Israel and the PA, including the Oslo Accords. Haniya refused to accept these conditions. On the day the First Haniyeh Government was sworn in, on 29 March, Israel and the Quartet stopped all dialogue with the PA and especially any member of the Hamas government, ceased providing aid to the PA and imposed sanctions against the PA under Hamas. Israel had also withheld the transfers of PA revenues for more than a year.''Report on UNCTAD assistance to the Palestinian people: Developments in the economy of the Occupied Palestinian Territory''
para 9-24. United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, 6 July 2015 (doc.nr. TD/B/62/3)
Source
/ref>''Israel’s retaliatory seizure of tax''
pp. 10-11. Al-Haq, 1 April 2015
Here available
/ref> President Abbas and the Fatah-dominated PLO developed a plan to replace the Hamas government with one acceptable to Israel and the international community. According to the plan, unveiled in Al Jazeera's

Palestine Papers The Palestine Papers is a collection of confidential documents about the Israeli–Palestinian peace process leaked to Al Jazeera, which published them between 23 and 26 January 2011. Nearly 1,700 documents from the office of the main PLO neg ...

, a national unity government would be formed to prepare early presidential and legislative elections by mid-2007. If the establishment of a government meeting the Quartet's conditions failed, Abbas would dismiss the government and form an emergency government or call early elections. An "Action Plan Leading to Early Elections" envisioned a strong enlargement of Fatah's Presidential Guard, internal reform of Fatah, empowering of presidential institutions, resumption of aid by the international community through the President's Office, and the end of withholding of taxes by Israel.

Timeline

On 25 January 2006,

Hamas The Islamic Resistance Movement, abbreviated Hamas (the Arabic acronym from ), is a Palestinian nationalist Sunni Islam, Sunni Islamism, Islamist political organisation with a military wing, the Qassam Brigades. It has Gaza Strip under Hama ...

won the

elections An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operated ...

for the

Palestinian Legislative Council The Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of the Palestinian National Authority, Palestinian Authority, elected by the Palestinians, Palestinian residents of the Palestinian territories of the Wes ...

(PLC). On 29 March 2006, the First Haniyeh-led PA government was sworn in.

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

, the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

and several other countries impose sanctions against the PA, including suspension of all

international aid In international relations, aid (also known as international aid, overseas aid, foreign aid, economic aid or foreign assistance) is – from the perspective of governments – a voluntary transfer of resources from one country to another. Th ...

. On 17 June 2006, a ''temporary international mechanism'' was created to channel aid to Palestinians bypassing the Hamas-led PA government, including paying aid funds directly to the accounts of President Abbas. On 8 February 2007, negotiations resulted in the

Fatah–Hamas Mecca Agreement The Fatah–Hamas Mecca Agreement was signed between Fatah and Hamas in the city of Mecca on 8 February 2007, agreeing to stop the internal military confrontations in the Gaza Strip and form a government of national unity. Representatives from th ...

to form a Palestinian national unity government.Middle East Report No. 62: After Mecca: Engaging Hamas
,

International Crisis Group The International Crisis Group (ICG; also known as the Crisis Group) is a global non-profit, non-governmental organisation founded in 1995. It is a think tank, used by policymakers and academics, conducting research and analysis on global crises. ...

(26 February 2007). The agreement was signed by Abbas on behalf of Fatah and by

Khaled Mashal Khaled Mashal (, ; born 28 May 1956) is a Palestinian politician who served as the second chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau from 1996 until May 2017, when he was succeeded by Ismail Haniyeh. He has also covered duties as the acting lea ...

on behalf of Hamas. The agreement also contained a "letter of commission" from Abbas to Haniyeh, calling on Haniyeh as premier of the next government to achieve Palestinian national goals as approved by the

Palestine National Council The Palestinian National Council (PNC; ) is the legislative body - in Arabic, the ''Majlis'' - of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). The PNC is intended to serve as the parliament that represents all Palestinians inside and outside th ...

, the Basic Law and the National Reconciliation Document (the

Prisoners' Document The Prisoners' Document, officially the National Conciliation Document of the Prisoners was written in May 2006 by Palestinian prisoners, who were being held in an Israeli jail. The five prisoners who took part in writing the Document were respect ...

) as well as the decisions of the Arab summit. On 17 March 2007, Haniyeh presented the national unity government to the PLC,''PM Hanieh Speech before the PLC March 17, 2007''
JMCC. Archived on 4 October 2009 which was approved 83–3. At the time, 41 of the 132 members of the PLC were in Israeli detention. The 25 ministers were sworn in the next day by President Abbas.''Palestinians OK Unity Govt''
Arab News, 18 March 2007
JMCC. Archived on 4 October 2009 The program of the national unity government included ending the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories and recognizing the right to

self-determination Self-determination refers to a people's right to form its own political entity, and internal self-determination is the right to representative government with full suffrage. Self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international la ...

of the Palestinian people, and the establishment of the independent Palestinian state with full sovereignty within the

1967 borders The Green Line, or 1949 Armistice border, is the demarcation line set out in the 1949 Armistice Agreements between the armies of Israel and those of its neighbors (Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria) after the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. It served ...

, with

al-Quds Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the oldest cities in the world, and is considered holy to the three major Abrahamic religions—Jud ...

as its capital, implementation of the Cairo Agreement pertaining to the PLO, and commitment to the

Palestinian right of return The Palestinian right of return is the political position or principle that Palestinian refugees, both Immigrant generations#First generation, first-generation refugees ( people still alive ) and their descendants ( people ), have a right to ...

. Israel rejected the new government. Between 10 and 14 June 2007, Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip after fierce battles between Fatah and Hamas.Guardian, 15 June 2007
''Hamas takes control of Gaza''
/ref> On 14 June 2007, President Abbas declared a

state of emergency A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state before, during, o ...

by presidential decree, and dismissed the Haniyeh-led unity government.''Presidential Decrees Issued on June - July 2007''
JMCC, archived on 12 October 2007 He appointed an emergency government led by

Salam Fayyad Salam Fayyad (; born 12 April 1952) is a Palestinian politician and economist who served as the first prime minister of Palestine from January 2013 until his resigned in July of that same year. He was previously the fourth prime minister of the ...

and controversially suspended articles of the Basic Law to dispense with the need for PLC approval of the new government. The Fayyad government was swiftly recognized by the international community. Haniyeh and Hamas have refused to accept the dismissal, and continues to claim it is the legitimate caretaker government of the Palestinian Authority on the basis that the PLC, which continues to be controlled by Hamas, has not approved the new government.

Members of the Government

March to June 2007

References

{{Hamas Haniyeh 02 2007 establishments in Palestine 2007 disestablishments in Palestine Cabinets established in 2007 Cabinets disestablished in 2007 Government 2 Coalition governments

Background

Timeline

Members of the Government

See also

References