Palestinian national unity government submits resignation to Abbas, angering Hamas

Palestinian national unity government submits resignation to Abbas, angering Hamas
Analysts see the change in government as an attempt by Abbas to strengthen his position and further isolate his political rivals Hamas as a decade-long split in Palestinian politics deepens.

3 min read
29 January, 2019
Resignation of Hamdallah (L) to Mahmoud Abbas (R) a bid to isolate Hamas [Getty]
The Palestinian government officially submitted its resignation to Palestinian Authority chief Mahmud Abbas on Tuesday, a move thought to be part of a bid to pressure and further isolate the president's Hamas rivals. 

"The government of Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah submitted on Tuesday its resignation to President Mahmud Abbas," official news agency Wafa said in English following a cabinet meeting.

The statement said the government will remain in place while a new administration is formed.

Analysts see the change in government as an attempt by Abbas to strengthen his position and further isolate his political rivals Hamas as a decade-long split in Palestinian politics deepens.

Hamdallah had offered to resign Monday, after the central committee of Abbas's Fatah movement recommended the formation of a new government that would comprise members of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO).

The Islamist movement Hamas, which runs the Gaza Strip, is not part of the PLO.

Hamas condemned the government's resignation, saying Abbas was seeking to establish a "separatist government" to serve his interests.

The movement seized control of Gaza from Abbas' forces in a 2007 near civil war, a year after winning parliamentary elections.

Since the PA have maintained limited self-rule in the occupied West Bank, but the split between the two has remained.

In June 2014, Hamdallah formed what was labelled a national unity government after a landmark reconciliation deal between Fatah and Hamas.

The deal has since broken down and the government has no control in Hamas-controlled Gaza.

Abbas was elected in 2005 for an initial four-year term but no elections have been held since then due to the Fatah-Hamas split.

Abbas in December said he would dissolve the Palestinian Legislative Council, a move seen as intended to weaken Hamas which holds a majority of the seats in the council.

Hamas
 denounced Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' plan to dissolve the largely defunct Palestinian parliament that it controls, calling it a move to "serve his partisan interests".

Though the parliament has not met since 2007, when Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip, Palestinian law allows for its speaker to act as interim president should 83-year-old Abbas die in office.

Dissolving the parliament would allow Abbas to further pressure Hamas.

Hamas won the last Palestinian parliamentary elections in 2006 in a landslide, resulting in an electoral dispute with Fatah. The split between the two factions persists and has defied several reconciliation attempts. A range of issues have kept the two sides apart, including Hamas' refusal to disarm its military wing.

Abbas, whose Fatah is based in the occupied West Bank, has sought to pressure Hamas in recent months by reducing salaries in the Gaza Strip, which is under an Israeli blockade, among other moves.