JERUSALEM (AP) — The Palestinian prime minister announced the resignation of his government on Monday, paving the way for a shake-up in the Palestinian Authority, which the U.S. hopes will eventually take on a role in postwar Gaza.
Many obstacles remain to making a revamped Palestinian Authority a reality. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whose forces were driven from Gaza by Hamas in 2007, has made clear that he would like the PA to govern the enclave after the war. But it is deeply unpopular among Palestinians, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has roundly rejected the idea of putting the authority in charge of the territory.
Abbas accepted the resignation late Monday, the official Wafa news agency announced, but left Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh in place at the head of a caretaker government until a successor is named. There was no word on how long that might take.
The move appears to be the first step in a process toward ushering in reforms sought by the United States, as international negotiations ramp up to bring about a cease-fire. The authority, created under interim Israeli-Palestinian peace deals in the early 1990s, administers parts of the West Bank but is beset by corruption.
Bibi effectively put Hamas in charge of Gaza in an effort to destabilise PA and stop their popularity, why would the West Bank PM stepping down mean Bibi would want to put PA back in charge of Gaza?
He clearly wanted a split Palestine because it’s easier to annex, so this move seems pointless.