Rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas on Monday announced that the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) President Mahmoud Abbas would lead a temporary unity government until elections are held.

Observers and analysts believe that the upcoming transitional government will be confronted with mounting obstacles despite the agreement agreed upon between the two rivals in Qatar.

In May 2011, the Islamic Hamas movement and Abbas' Fatah signed an Egypt-brokered reconciliation agreement in Egypt's capital Cairo, under which the two movements agreed to form a transitional government of technocrats. Later, the Palestinian factions agreed to hold elections in May 2012.

"If President Abbas moves to implement what was signed today in Doha, he will abandon the path of peace and join forces with the enemies of peace," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office warned in a statement on Monday.

"President Abbas, you can't have it both ways. It's either a pact with Hamas or peace with Israel. It's one or the other. You can't have them both," the statement said.

"In terms of public diplomacy, it gives Netanyahu a bit of advantage because Hamas has obviously not accepted the Quartet's conditions," Dr. Mark Heller of Tel Aviv University told Xinhua on Tuesday.

The Middle East Quartet (the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia), formed in 2002, insisted that Hamas would be recognized by the world only if it condemns terrorism and recognizes Israel, among others.

"So he can come out and say, quite credibly, to Abu Mazen ( Abbas) that you can choose peace with Israel or peace with Hamas, that's his slogan," Heller added.

Heller believes that the clear purpose of Doha declaration was to put together an interim government, which is supposed to prepare for presidential and parliamentary elections. But he added that it was not "something that will be done by technocrats who will be sitting in a caretaker government."

According to Heller, "that's something that will be done by political leadership whose considerations will be affected by their own assessment of the likelihood of doing well or poorly in the elections."

Salam Fayyad, prime minister of the Fatah government and an independent political figure, isn't expected to be part of the new government, which might be announced in Cairo late February.

While Fayyad, who was educated in the United States and worked for the International Monetary Fund, has been credited for improving the West Bank economy, Hamas has opposed his participation in the transitional government due to his perceived close ties with Israel. Essentially, Hamas views Fayad as a " lackey" of the West.

Heller pointed out that the main questions at the moment include "Will the Fatah government allow Hamas to operate more freely in the West Bank" or "Will the Hamas government in Gaza allow a reciprocal arrangement for Fatah security agents to re- establish their presence in the coastal enclave?"

"These are big issues that have actually frustrated a lot of efforts in the past, and I haven't yet seen any indication of whether or how these will be dealt with," he added.