Palestinian leaders agreed to create a national unity government in a move that could end months of political and fiscal crisis and pave the way for a resumption of urgently needed Western aid. President Mahmud Abbas will dissolve the current government within the next 48 hours and charge prime minister Ismail Haniya of the Islamist movement Hamas with forming a new cabinet, officials said after the deal was announced. ‘President Abbas will be issuing a presidential decree within the next 48 hours to dismiss the current government and charge a new prime minister’ to form a new cabinet, Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina said. ‘Current prime minister Ismail Haniya will be charged … with forming a national unity government,’ a senior official said on condition of anonymity. The 43-year-old Haniya will have five weeks to form a new government once he is officially charged with doing so. Abbas told reporters in Gaza City that he and rival Haniya had clinched a deal on forming a national unity government after weeks of tortuous talks. ‘We have finished defining the political program of a national unity government, based on the national reconciliation document,’ Abbas said. […]