Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas rejected the resignation of Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, and decided to keep him in office until a new Palestinian government is formed.

The state-run Palestinian news agency Wafa reported on Friday that President Abbas met with Fayyad and informed him that he decided not to accept the resignation now in order to avoid any constitutional vacuum.

The report quoted Abbas as saying that "the moment is not suitable to accept this resignation because it would leave a severe constitutional vacuum in the Palestinian National Authority."

Fayyad's office has stated that the resignation of the Prime Minister is still in the hands of President Abbas, adding he (Abbas) is the one who can decide whether to keep the current government or form a new one.

On March 7, Fayyad presented a letter of resignation to Abbas, telling the Palestinian president that he would resign when a national unity government is formed. Fayyad gave Abbas an ultimatum until the end of March.

Fayyad had stated that his decision came to pave the way for the Palestinian factions to succeed their reconciliation dialogue that has been going on intensively for several weeks.

However, rival Fatah and Hamas movement announced in Cairo on Thursday that they failed to overcome their differences in four basic issues, mainly the issue of the political platform of the new government.

The core of the crisis is related to Hamas' rejection to abide by Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) commitments to the peace process. Hamas considered the commitment as recognition of Israel, in which it rejects.

(Xinhua News Agency April 3, 2009)