As optimism grows over the chances of a ceasefire agreement that would put an end – or, as leaks suggest, a six-week pause – to the war between Israel and the fundamentalist group Hamas, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh has announced his resignation and the dissolution of his Government.
His decision – announced this Monday in Ramallah – is the result of pressure from Palestinian President Abu Mazen, who in turn is pressured by several Arab countries and especially the United States to carry out a profound reform of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA). facing the so-called “Day After” in the Gaza Strip in case, as it seems and after 17 years, it is no longer under the control of Hamas.
“I presented the resignation of the Government to the president on February 20 and I am submitting it in writing this Monday,” Shtayyeh declared at the beginning of his executive meeting.. “The next stage and its challenges require new governmental and political arrangements that take into account the emerging reality in the Gaza Strip, the national unity talks and the urgent need for an internal Palestinian consensus based on a national basis, broad participation, the unity and extension of the sovereignty of the Palestinian Authority over the entire land of Palestine,” he said.
The leader, who took office in 2019, noted that his decision is linked to “the political, economic and security developments in relation to the aggression against our people in the Gaza Strip and the unprecedented escalation in the West Bank, including the city of Jerusalem.”
The forecast is that Abu Mazen will ask one of his advisors, the economist Mohammad Mustafa (with 15 years of experience at the World Bank) to form a government of technocrats.. If so and until then, Shtayye will remain in power during the transition. With this measure, Abu Mazen moves a piece on the local and regional board shaken by the jihadist attack on October 7 and the massive Israeli military response and sends a message to three key actors: Hamas, Israel and the United States.
In their meetings in Ramallah on the occasion of the war, the American Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, told the veteran Rais that his country is in favor of the ANP taking back the reins of the Gaza Strip, after being expelled by the Islamist militia. in 2007, as long as it carries out reform at all levels. What the US calls “Renewed Authority” would first seek to rescue an entity created in the mid-90s as a result of the Oslo Accords and highly criticized among the Palestinians themselves in the West Bank, among other reasons because it did not end the occupation in the war of '67 and because its president was elected for the last time in 2005. According to a poll conducted by Palestinian expert Khalil Shikaki in December, almost 90% of Palestinians demand the resignation of Abu Mazen while more than 60% support the dissolution of the PNA that last held elections in 2006 when Hamas won the victory.
Secondly, the US and several countries in the Persian Gulf want the ANP to have a more professional and less political or partisan dimension and to be capable of managing, or at least being an important part, of the management of the Gaza Strip.. This is a very complex mission taking into account the internal Palestinian division and above all the unprecedented destruction in the coastal enclave after 143 days of Israeli military operation against Hamas.. Reconstruction, which appears to be very expensive (probably carried out by Arab countries), requires having an effective Government that is free from any signs of corruption.
Abu Mazen demands an immediate ceasefire, the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip and negotiations based on the two-state solution with East Jerusalem as the capital of his country. Until then, he will continue to lead the international diplomatic campaign against Israel that was increased during the war.
The reconstruction of the Gaza Strip requires a new Palestinian Government that unites it with the West Bank governed by Abu Mazen's Fatah, putting an end to the geographical and political split.. “The resignation of the Shtayyeh government only makes sense if it occurs in the context of a national consensus on the agreements for the next phase,” reacted Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri, quoted by Reuters.. This group does not renounce being part of the new power in Gaza.
The “day after” also depends on what Israel does or does not do. The Israeli authorities point out that their Army “will maintain operational security freedom in the Gaza Strip after eliminating the Hamas terrorist group to avoid a new 7-O.”
From the point of view of the civilian management of the Gaza Strip, there is a division of opinion in Israel. After repeatedly and publicly ruling out control of the ANP, alleging that it “pays salaries to terrorists, incites and educates violence and does not condemn the massacre of October 7,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has qualified his opposition in recent weeks.. In fact, in the document he presented to his cabinet a few days ago on the post-Hamas Gaza Strip, Netanyahu did not explicitly rule out the return of Abu Mazen's entity.. He did not mention it but he did not rule out this scenario either..
Beyond accusing Israel of committing “genocide” in Gaza and clarifying that the ANP “will continue to fight to establish the State in the lands of Palestine,” Shtayye pointed out this Monday that since taking power his Government has had to face numerous challenges such as increased settlement construction, the pandemic, US President Donald Trump's peace initiative (“The Deal of the Century sought to end the Palestinian cause”), the war in Ukraine that reduced media/diplomatic attention and economic investment of the international community in his town and, finally, the war between Israel and Hamas.
In this sense, an Israeli delegation was in Qatar this Monday to continue the negotiations after the important progress made last Friday at the summit held in Paris between the US, Qatar, Egypt and Israel.. The objective of the mediation is to achieve a truce before the start of the month of Ramadan, in two weeks, which returns home a large part of the 134 people still in captivity after being kidnapped by Hamas almost five months ago and alleviates the dramatic humanitarian crisis. that Gazans suffer.
The ceasefire in March would postpone the announced Israeli ground incursion in the Rafah area where the last organized stronghold of the armed wing of Hamas is located as well as 1.3 million inhabitants, most of them displaced, in terrible conditions.. Before this operation, Israel plans to present to the US and Egypt the evacuation plan prepared by the Army of civilians from combat zones.