The Western-backed Palestinian economist Salam Fayyad took the oath as a prime minister in front of President Mahmoud Abbas late Tuesday afternoon in the West Bank city of Ramallah amid Hamas opposition.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad stand with members of the new Palestinian cabinet following a swearing in ceremony in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Tuesday, May 19, 2009. [Xinhua]

Fayyad's government was sworn in amid large Palestinian opposition to join it, among which Hamas movement slammed forming it while Fatah has officially announced that it decided to officially boycott joining Fayyad's government.

Fayyad, the new Prime Minister of the new larger government was the first to stand in front of President Mahmoud Abbas at al-Muqata'a, the presidential headquarters in Ramallah, put his right hand on the Quran, the Moslems Holy Book, and read the oath.

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad (front) is escorted by a bodyguard after attending a local conference in the West Bank city of Ramallah March 8, 2009. [Xinhua]

Other members of the new cabinet followed Fayyad and were sworn in before President Mahmoud Abbas. The ceremony was also presented by chief of Abbas headquarters Tayeb Abdel Rahim.

Abdel Rahim said that there are some ministers who were not able to attend the sworn-in ceremony "for obligatory circumstances", without revealing or saying what are these circumstances.

After all the attending ministers made the oath before Abbas, Abdel Rahim said that "this decree is obligatory and it will be valid starting from today."

The Islamic Hamas movement, which rules the Gaza Strip, has slammed the formation of a new larger Palestinian government, saying this government was illegal, formed by an illegal president.

"Abu Mazen's (Abbas) decision to form a new government in the West Bank in this tie and during the national dialogue would boost political, constitutional and legal chaos," Fawzi Barhoum, Hamas spokesman in Gaza, said in a statement.

"This government will remain illegal and illegitimate and we will not recognize it or deal with it," Barhoum added.

Hamas and Fatah had failed in five separate rounds of dialogue to form a unity government that rules both Gaza and West Bank.

Hamas parliamentary block in the parliament also slammed in a statement the formation of a new government in Ramallah, saying "this is totally illegal government and won't be recognize by Hamas."

When Fayyad's government excludes Hamas, the second largest Palestinian faction after Fatah, which basically not to recognize Fayyad and its resigned caretaker government, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) also said it is confident that it will not join.

The large government is made up of 24 members, in which ten portfolios were given to Fatah, including the interior ministry, but Abbas' Fatah party officially boycotted it.

Azzam al-Ahmad, the chief of Fatah parliamentary bloc, said his movement's official decision was to boycott the government.

He justified Fatah's boycott to Fayyad's government is "because Fayyad addressed Fatah individually; offering the ministers to join through personal contacts away from the main official address of Fatah."

"The Fatah members joined the government on their personal capacities," al-Ahmad told reporters following a meeting of Fatah parliamentary block in the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) held in Ramallah before the oath.

Two of ten Fatah ministers in the caretaker government decided not to join the new government, while eight of them, including the minister of interior affairs Said Abu Ali, decided to continue and did the oath before President Abbas.

Abbas would rule out his bitter rival Hamas from joining this government which will control the West Bank but will also be responsible to pay salaries for the Palestinian National Authority(PNA) employees who are based in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.

The PFLP and the People Party were the only factions of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) to refuse joining Fayyad's government due to the legal controversy over it.

In June 2007, after Hamas routed pro-Abbas forces and seized control of the Gaza Strip, Fayyad formed a caretaker government in the West Bank but today the independent prime minister is expanding his cabinet.

The new reshuffle is made after Hamas and Fatah failed on Monday to reach an agreement on a unity government that would be ruling the West Bank and Gaza.

They agreed to resume their reconciliation talks in July and Abbas decided to announce the expansion of Fayyad's government that will quit as soon as Hamas and Fatah broker a reconciliation agreement.

(Xinhua News Agency May 20, 2009)