Prerana Toshniwal, Pune
In a press conference held on Monday, 26th February, Mohommad Shtayyeh announced that he and his entire government have handed their resignations to the Palestinian Authority President, Mahmoud Abbas. He said that this decision came in light of the unprecedented escalation in the West Bank and Jerusalem and the war, genocide and starvation in the Gaza Strip.
It is also speculated that this comes amid growing pressure from the US to shake up the authority , and start work on a political structure to govern the enclave post-war as the international efforts to stop the war in Gaza intensify.
In his address to the cabinet, PM Shtayyeh also said that the next stage and its challenges require new governmental and political arrangements taking into account Gaza’s new reality and the need for a Palestinian consensus based on unity and the extension of unity of authority over the land of Palestine.
Mohommad Shtayyeh is an academic economist. He was sworn in as the Prime Minister of Palestine in 2019. This departure of Shtayyeh as the PM marks a crucial shift in Abbas’ determination to make sure that the Palestinian authority maintains its claim to leadership as international pressure grows for a revival of efforts to create a separate state alongside Israel. Although it should be noted that since the signing of the Oslo Accords in the early 1990s, very little progress has been made to achieve a two-state solution.
Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, has not yet accepted the resignation. Once he accepts the resignation, he will also be naming the next Prime Minister. While nothing can be told with certainty, it is likely that he might ask Mohammad Mustafa, a former World Bank official who is chairman of the Palestine Investment Fund (PIF) to join the office as the next Prime Minister. Mustafa has had the experience of rebuilding Gaza after a previous war in 2014. Until then, Shtayyeh might be asked to continue as the caretaker until a permanent replacement has been found.
There hasn’t been any elections since 2006 and nothing has been said about it so far.