Sunday, March 08, 2009

Hana Levi Julian PA Prime Minister Resigns


ayyad told journalists he was leaving in order to promote “peace” in the upcoming Fatah-Hamas unity government, and said he would only stay on until the end of the month.

PA Chairman and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas asked Fayyad to stay on until reconciliation talks with Hamas are completed.

Clinton met with Fayyad on Wednesday during her talks in Ramallah with Abbas, senior aide Saeb Erekat and other PA officials. It is not known whether he shared with the American official his intention to resign before she left.

Fayyad, who worked previously for the World Bank and who has studied at the university level in the United States, is not officially a member of Fatah. He has also been critical of Erekat and past PA Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei in the past as well, chiding them for lacking leadership. He is also one of the few PA leaders whom Western leaders trust with economic arrangements, including the massive amounts of funding donated to the constantly cash-strapped entity.

The move is seen as a strategic one designed to force Hamas to back down in its campaign to force a change in leadership of the Fatah faction. Abbas is expected to face an uphill fight in the upcoming PA legislative and executive election, which will be held sometime in the next 12 months. Fayyad can be reinstated if reconciliation fails, or reappointed if Hamas agrees to his leadership in a new PA unity government.

Adding to the pressure, White House National Security Council spokesman Mike Hammer told reporters Saturday night that the U.S. expects the PA to continue to make progress in negotiations with Israel, regardless of who leads its government.

“This government made great strikes in providing the transparency, accountability and security that will be essential to achieving a two-state solution,” said Hammer. “We expect any future Palestinian government to continue this progress, in line with the Quartet principles…”

The Quartet, comprised of the U.S., Russia, the European Union and the United Nations, has demanded that Hamas formally recognizing Israel’s right to exist, renouncing terrorism and upholding agreements negotiated by previous PA governments.

Funding by Western nations to the PA government and any other entity that involves Hamas was frozen when the terrorist organization won the PA legislative elections in January 2006, until such time as the group agrees to meet the Quartet conditions.

Hamas is still committed to the destruction of the State of Israel, and refuses to acknowledge its right to exist. And here is the rest of it.

No comments: