Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh Announces Resignation

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh. (Twitter/@DrShtayyeh)

JAKARTA - Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh announced his resignation, saying it had been submitted to President Mahmoud Abbas.

"I submit the government's resignation to the President," Shtayyeh said, adding it happened after "development related to aggression against the Gaza Strip as well as escalation in the West Bank and Jerusalem, citing The Times of Israel February 26.

Shtayyeh said he resigned to allow the formation of widespread consensus among Palestinians about political arrangements after Israel's war against Hamas.

The move comes amid increasing pressure from the United States on Abbas to destabilize the PA as international efforts to stop fighting in Gaza intensified and began drafting a political structure to rule the region after the war.

Citing CNN, Shtayyeh in a post on Facebook said the resignation plan had been submitted to President Abbas last Tuesday from today delivered in writing.

It is not yet clear how this resignation will be, but it must be accepted by President Abbas, who may ask him to remain a caretaker until a permanent replacement is appointed.

In a statement to the cabinet, Shtayyeh, who took office in 2019, said the next stage needed to consider the reality that emerged in Gaza, which had been destroyed by fierce fighting for nearly five months.

He said the next stage would "let new government and political arrangements take into account the realities that arise in the Gaza Strip, national unity negotiations, and the urgent need for inter-Palestinian consensus".

In addition, an "expansion of the Authority's authority over all Palestinian land is needed".

The Palestinian Authority, formed 30 years ago under Oslo's temporary peace agreement, ran a limited government in parts of the occupied West Bank, but lost power in Gaza following a dispute with Hamas in 2007.