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Palestinian PM, govt resign as Hamas warns move will exclude group from politics Palestinian government submits resignation to president Mahmoud Abbas
(about 1 hour later)
Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Al-Hamdallah said on Tuesday he tendered his resignation and that of his unity government to President Mahmoud Abbas. The move deals a blow to faltering reconciliation efforts with Gaza’s Islamist Hamas rulers. The government would continue to carry out its duties until a new one was formed. Abbas’ Fatah faction, at a meeting he chaired two days ago, recommended that the government be replaced. A Hamas official condemned the move as an attempt to marginalize and exclude the group from Palestinian politics, Reuters reports. Hamdallah, a little-known academic, headed the national unity government formed in 2014 and led the West Bank-based Fatah’s reconciliation efforts with Hamas, which seized power in Gaza in 2007. Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah has submitted his resignation to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, complicating efforts at reconciliation with Gaza's Hamas rulers.
"The prime minister and his ministers welcome the Fatah Central Committee's decision to form a new government," said Palestinian Authority government spokesperson Yusuf al-Mahmoud in a statement. "Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah has placed his government at the disposal of the President of the Authority," he added, hinting at impending resignations within the cabinet.
Hamdallah’s resignation came just days after Abbas asked him to step down, according to reports. The move will likely hamper an already delicate relationship with Gaza’s Hamas rules, but Abbas does not want Hamas to be excluded from the new government to be formed.
"We hope that all Palestinian factions will participate in this (new) government and I appeal to the Hamas movement to participate," he said.
Hamas officials, however, have described the move as an attempt to exclude the group from Palestinian politics.
"The announcement of the formation of a new government is a recognition of the tragedies and disasters caused by the government of al Hamdallah, and there is no legitimacy for any future government without national consensus," Sami Abu Zuhri, official spokesman for Hamas, wrote on Twitter.
Hamdallah headed the national unity government formed in 2015 and led Fatah’s reconciliation efforts with Hamas, which has governed Gaza since 2007. The two groups signed an agreement two years ago which called for Abbas’ Palestinian Authority to gradually resume governance over Gaza.
Assuming Abbas accepts their resignations, Hamdallah and the other PA ministers will continue to serve until a new government is formed.
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