Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas accepted the government’s resignation

The decision is explained by the “urgent need for intra-Palestinian consensus”, at a time when behind-the-scenes negotiations to reform Palestinian political leadership in a “post-war” context in Gaza are intensifying.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas accepted the resignation of the government this Monday, February 26, which was announced earlier in the day, at a time when behind-the-scenes negotiations are intensifying to reform the Palestinian political leadership in the framework of “. ‘After the war’ Gaza.

“I presented the resignation of the government to Mr. President on February 20 and I submit it in writing today,” announced on Monday morning in Ramallah, the headquarters of the Palestinian Authority, Mohammed Shatyeh, the head of the government since spring 2019.

And in the evening, President Abbas issued a decree “accepting this resignation” while mandating Mohammad Shatyeh and his ministers to “stay in office temporarily until a new government is formed.”

“An Inter-Palestinian Consensus”

“Next steps require new governmental and political measures that take into account the new reality in the Gaza Strip (…), the urgent need for inter-Palestinian consensus” and the creation of a Palestinian state with authority in the West Bank. and Gaza, Mohammed Shatyeh declared.

Since the fratricidal clashes in June 2007, the Palestinian leadership has been divided between Mahmoud Abbas’s Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited authority in the West Bank, territory occupied by Israel since 1967, while Hamas controls the Gaza Strip.

For Palestinian analyst Ghassan Khatib, the resignation of the Shtayeh government is not a sign of defiance towards Mahmoud Abbas, but a way for the Palestinian Authority to show that it is ready to join the path of reform for the post-war period in Gaza. .

An authority for the West Bank and Gaza

Arab countries, including Qatar, Western powers as well as opponents of Mahmoud Abbas are calling for a reformed Palestinian Authority ultimately responsible for the West Bank and Gaza under the banner of an independent Palestinian state.

With the resignation of the Shtayeh government, “Mahmoud Abbas wants to show the mediator that he is also ready to go down this path”, underlines Ghassan Khatib, clarifying that this new Palestinian leadership will include elements of the Palestinian Authority as well as Hamas.

“If Abbas and Hamas reach an agreement, it will be a new phase in Palestinian politics. This will be important because both camps have tried many times to come closer without ever succeeding,” Ghassan Khatib explains.

“Helpless” by Mahmood Abbas

For Khalil Shikaki, director of the Palestinian Center for Politics and Polling Research (PCPSR), an independent organization in Ramallah, the resignation presented on Monday by the Shatyeh government is merely cosmetic and part of Mahmoud Abbas’s attempt to make people believe in the will. For correction.

“Abbas wants to show the world that he is ready to make changes (…) but the only real reform for him is to return home,” stressed Khalil Shikaki, insisting that whoever succeeds the Shatyeh government “He will be forced. Palestinians are loyal to the president because the latter runs “like a one-man show”.

In recent months, many Palestinians have criticized 88-year-old President Mahmoud Abbas, who was last elected in 2005, for his “helplessness” in the face of Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip.

Going against the grain of recent negotiations on “after the war” in Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented a plan that envisages maintaining Israel’s “security control”, rejects the possibility of a Palestinian state and envisages no political role for Palestinians. Authority or Hamas.

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