Palestinian prime minister resigns
● Shtayyeh says move is to allow for formation of broader consensus on governance after war in Gaza
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said yesterday he was resigning to allow for the formation of a broad consensus among Palestinians about political arrangements after Israel’s war against the Islamist group Hamas in Gaza.
The move comes amid growing US pressure on President Mahmoud Abbas to shake up the Palestinian Authority as international efforts have intensified to stop the fighting in Gaza and begin work on a political structure to govern the enclave after the war.
His resignation must still be accepted by Abbas, who may ask him to stay on as caretaker until a permanent replacement is appointed.
In a statement to cabinet, Shtayyeh, an academic economist who took office in 2019, said the next stage would need to take account of the emerging reality in Gaza, which has been laid waste by months of heavy fighting.
He said the next stage would “require new governmental and political arrangements that take into account the emerging reality in the Gaza Strip, the national unity talks and urgent need for an inter-Palestinian consensus”.
In addition, it would require “the extension of the authority’s authority over the entire land, Palestine”.
The Palestinian Authority, formed 30 years ago under the
interim Oslo peace accords, exercises limited governance over the occupied West Bank but lost power in Gaza after a struggle with Hamas in 2007.
Fatah, the faction that controls the PA, and Hamas have made efforts to reach an agreement over a unity government and are due to meet in Moscow on Wednesday.
A senior Hamas official said the move had to be followed by a broader agreement on overall governance for the Palestinians.
“The resignation of Shtayyeh’s government only makes sense if it comes within the context of national consensus on arrangements for the next phase,” senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said.
Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas and says that for security reasons, it will not accept Palestinian Authority rule over Gaza after the war, which broke out after a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on
October 7, which killed some 1,200 Israelis and foreigners.
So far, more than 29,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza fighting, according to Palestinian health authorities. ● At least two simultaneous Israeli strikes hit around Lebanon’s city of Baalbek yesterday, two security sources said, the first bombardment of eastern Lebanon since regional hostilities erupted after the start of the war in Gaza.
The Israeli military said it was “currently striking Hezbollah terror targets deep inside Lebanon” but provided no further details.
There was no immediate comment from the Iranianbacked Hezbollah.
Hezbollah and the Israeli military have been exchanging fire along Lebanon’s southern border since October, when Hezbollah launched rockets at Israel in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas, which is it at war with Israel in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli strikes had been mostly limited to the southern border region of Lebanon, though they have edged further north in recent weeks.
Monday’s bombardment represented a broadening of Israel’s campaign, a Lebanese security source said.
Lebanese television station Al-Jadeed broadcast images of plumes of smoke emanating from Baalbek. —