PALESTINIAN PRIME minister Salam Fayyad said yesterday that he is confident a government of national consensus will be formed by the end of this month before his resignation, tendered on Saturday, takes effect.
Dr Fayyad, an independent and former World Bank official who enjoys the support of the West, said he would not assume any post in a new government. “What I submitted . . . was a resignation letter and not a request for a new post.”
His resignation is, apparently, meant to encourage Hamas and Fatah to heal the rift which has split Palestinians for the past three years.
Washington, which reportedly insists that Dr Fayyad should lead a new government, is likely to be displeased over his resignation and can be expected to urge him to stay.
However, this would damage the standing of the new government with many Palestinians. Furthermore, Hamas argues that his current emergency cabinet, installed by president and Fatah chief Mahmoud Abbas in July 2007 following Hamas-Fatah clashes, is unconstitutional since it has no parliamentary mandate.
Dr Fayyad’s resignation puts pressure on the rival factions to agree to a deal before the Arab summit at the end of this month.
By stepping down, he also sends a message to the US and Israel that he is no longer prepared to participate in fruitless talks on a Palestinian state while Israel constructs settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, areas which Palestinians claim for their state.
A committee made up of representatives of Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) factions and independents, as well as Hamas and Islamic Jihad is set to meet tomorrow, under Egyptian auspices to discuss the composition of the proposed transitional government. Its main task is to oversee presidential and parliamentary elections by early next year.
Such a government will also begin dispersing $1.34 billion in humanitarian and reconstruction aid pledged last week to provide for desperate Gazans and repair the devastation in Gaza wreaked by Israel’s recent offensive.
Donors insist that the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority should receive the money and that none should reach Hamas, which holds that reconstruction should be handled by UN agencies operating in Gaza.
Pressed by Cairo and Riyadh to heal the rift between Hamas and Fatah, Mr Abbas promised that the unity government will be created by any means. He said he hopes it will “abide by all the Palestine Liberation Organisation’s commitments”.
Palestinian sources say such a government could be composed of non-party technocrats rather than members of Fatah, which administers the West Bank, and Hamas, which rules Gaza.
