GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) – Incoming Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said Saturday that a majority of the ministers in the Cabinet he was putting together would come from outside the newly elected Palestinian legislature.

Haniyeh, a leader of the Hamas group, has been negotiating with different Palestinian factions to put together a coalition government by the end of the month in the wake of the Islamic militant group’s overwhelming victory in Jan. 25 parliamentary elections.

Hamas has been working to bring Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah Party into the Cabinet, but Fatah leaders have said they prefer to serve in the opposition.

Hamas spokesman Salah Bardawil said the group told Palestinian parties they must decide by Monday whether to join a Hamas-led government.

Bardawil said two small parties were expected to join – the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a radical PLO faction, and Independent Palestine, a party led by human rights activist Mustafa Barghouti.

Hamas sent letters Saturday outlining its political program to all parties, Bardawil said.

“We gave them two days to evaluate and study this program,” he said, adding that a final round of talks with representatives from all parties would be held Monday.

Haniyeh told journalists Saturday that negotiations over his Cabinet were nearing an end and lawmakers would be a minority in the new government.

“The largest number of ministers will be from outside parliament. We’ll form a government that mixes between the political, the technocrats, the independents and the experts, so it can be prepared on all fronts,” he said.

Haniyeh spoke after meeting with an umbrella group of Palestinian lawyers. According to minutes of that meeting, Haniyeh said that after his Cabinet is formed, he expects to send a delegation of ministers on a tour of the Arab and Islamic world and possibly to Europe.

Abbas and Haniyeh met Friday as part of continuing discussions about the formation of a new Cabinet. Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat on Saturday denied reports that Abbas and Haniyeh were engaged in a major dispute over Hamas’ refusal to accept previous Palestinian agreements with Israel.

Abbas was scheduled to leave Sunday for a weeklong trip to visit Europe and Egypt.

The United States and European Union have threatened to cut off hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to the Palestinian Authority after Hamas takes power if the group does not renounce violence and recognize Israel’s right to exist. Hamas leaders said they had no plans to moderate their ideology.

On Saturday, Abbas met with James Wolfensohn, an international Mideast envoy, and appealed for continued international aid to the Palestinian Authority, even after Hamas takes power, said Abbas aide Nabil Abu Rdeneh.

“We told him that the international community should continue providing the Palestinian Authority with money,” he said.

Without the international aid, the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority will not be able to pay the monthly salaries for its 140,000 workers.

AP-ES-03-11-06 1707EST

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