Palestinian Authority (PA) Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh and his government submitted their resignations to President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday.
“I would like to inform the honorable council and our great people that I placed the government’s resignation at the disposal of Mr. President [Mahmoud Abbas], last Tuesday, and today I submit it in writing,” Shtayyeh said in a post on Facebook.
Shtayyeh, a member of ruling party Fatah’s Central Committee, has been PA prime minister since 2019. He said he was resigning to allow for the formation of a broad consensus among Palestinians about postwar political arrangements in Gaza.
We will not accept the new government ignoring Palestinian laws, especially on fixed issues
Ramallah-based political analyst Esmat Mansour told The Media Line that Shtayyeh’s government has “suffered from the Israeli financial blockade” and that “no government will be able to carry out its duties if the Israeli siege continues. We will not accept the new government ignoring Palestinian laws, especially on fixed issues.”
According to Mansour, the resignation of the Shtayyeh government must lead to “the formation of an interim Palestinian national unity government acceptable to all Palestinians, and it should confront [Israeli Prime Minister] Netanyahu’s plans to perpetuate the occupation of Gaza, and it must guarantee the unity of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and prepare for holding free, democratic elections.”
The move comes amid growing US pressure on President Abbas to institute political and economic reforms and fight widespread corruption within the PA. This pressure is part of intensifying international efforts to end the war in Gaza and begin work on a political structure to govern the enclave after the war.
“The United States seems to be committed to the idea that the Palestinian Authority will take over Gaza the day after,” Professor Hillel Frisch, a senior fellow at the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, told The Media Line.
However, according to Frisch, “Israel will not agree to that, of course not.”
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The very fact that the United States wants it [a reformed PA governing Gaza] is a tremendous challenge, and this is [President] Biden signaling to Israel that he’s really serious about it
Referring to US interests in having a reformed PA govern Gaza once the war is over, Frisch said, “The very fact that the United States wants it is a tremendous challenge, and this is [President] Biden signaling to Israel that he’s really serious about it.”
However, many obstacles remain to making that vision a reality. “This is so premature, we don’t know how things are going to work out in Gaza,” added Frisch.
Israel has long accused the PA of supporting terrorism by offering financial support to the families of militants killed by Israeli forces and allowing antisemitic material to be included in school textbooks.
Israel has also attacked Palestinian leaders, including Abbas, for not condemning the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel.
Palestinian factions are meeting in Moscow for unity talks, and PA officials are hoping that a mandate will be given to them to return to rule Gaza.
Shtayyeh’s resignation must still be accepted by Abbas, who may ask him to stay on as caretaker until a permanent replacement is appointed. While no successor has yet been named, reports circulating in Ramallah suggest that Dr. Mohammad Mustafa, chairman of the Palestine Investment Fund and a former deputy prime minister and ex-World Bank official, may be an experienced replacement. Mustafa was involved in efforts to rebuild Gaza after the previous war in 2014.
The Ramallah-based PA has been badly weakened over the years, and polls show it is deeply unpopular among Palestinians. However, it remains the only acceptable leadership body recognized by the international community.
The PA, formed around 30 years ago as part of the interim Oslo Accords, has been badly undermined by accusations of ineffectiveness and widespread corruption, and the prime minister holds little authority.
Mansour said the Palestinian people are in dire need of national unity in light of the war in Gaza.
“The most important thing now is to form a unified Palestinian national leadership from which an interim national unity government will emerge that responds to the demands of the Palestinian people and not to any external dictates,” said Mansour.
The PA exercises limited rule over parts of the West Bank but lost power in Gaza following a factional struggle with Hamas in 2007.
There has been no word on elections, which have not been held since 2006.
“I think the Israeli point of view is that if you don’t defeat Hamas, you can send as many Palestinian Authority officials as you want to Gaza, and they’ll be working with Hamas to save their own lives,” concluded Frisch.