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Roundup: Palestine's unity gov't to resign within coming 24 hours: source

Xinhua, June 17, 2015 Adjust font size:

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announced on Tuesday that the unity government, which was formed in June last year, is to resign within the coming 24 hours, well-informed source said.

The source who spoke on condition of anonymity told Xinhua that Abbas told a meeting of his Fatah Party's Revolutionary Council held in Ramallah that he will designated current Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah to form a new government.

Abbas didn't say why he decided to dismantle the current unity government, but said according to the source, "so far Hamas movement hasn't given us answers related to allowing the government to perform in Gaza."

Abbas said that he will put the file of the unity government before the upcoming meeting of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) executive committee to take the proper decision related to the fate of the government.

Amind Maqbool, Secretary General of Fatah Party's revolutionary council, told Xinhua that the meeting chaired by President Abbas discussed the formation of a new government. He said that "all options are opened for discussions."

Spokesman for the unity government Ihab Bseiso denied that the unity government has already resigned.

"Prime Minister Hamdallah will hold a meeting with President Abbas in Ramallah on Wednesday at 1:00 p.m. and will discuss the possibilities of reshuffling the government or the resignation," said Bseiso in a statement.

He added that few months ago, Hamdallah called for enlarging the unity government and reshuffling it in order to be able to fulfill its commitments, especially after the end of last summer's Israeli war on Gaza.

Salah el-Bardaweel, a senior Hamas leader told reporters in Gaza that Abbas' decision "is a breakdown of the internal reconciliation and a violation to the national consensus and accordance."

Zeyad Zaza, a former minister of economy in the former Hamas-led government told reporters that the current consensus government "had a big failure." He called for the formation of a new one.

Meanwhile, Mufeed al-Hassayna, minister of housing and public work, told reporters that the resignation of the unity government has been under discussion for a long time and it was an agreed-upon scenario.

The unity government was sworn before Abbas in June last year in the West Bank city of Ramallah after an agreement reached between Hamas and the PLO on forming a technocrat unity government that ends the internal split. Endit