Abbas accepts Fayyad’s resignation as PA prime minister

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad handed PA President Mahmoud Abbas his letter of resignation in a Saturday evening meeting in Ramallah.

A statement from the official Palestinian news agency Wafa said Abbas met with Fayyad late in the day and accepted his resignation, thanking him for his service.

According to the statement, Abbas asked Fayyad to continue to serve in his post until Abbas forms a new government.

Abbas was expected to name a new prime minister within days, according to Palestinian officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

On Friday, US Secretary of State John Kerry called Abbas and urged the two leaders to bury the hatchet in the interest of ensuring regional stability ahead of an American push for peace between the PA and Israel.

As part of that effort, Kerry has said he plans to announce a series of measures to boost the West Bank economy in the coming days. Fayyad, a former official at the International Monetary Fund with expertise in development, was seen by Kerry as key to overseeing such projects

Conflicting reports regarding Fayyad’s resignation abounded in local media Thursday, as Fatah officials spoke of a deep schism between Fayyad and Abbas, as well as with other party leaders.

The immediate reason for Fayyad’s reported resignation on Wednesday was a disagreement with Abbas over the resignation of finance minister Nabil Qassis in early March.

Fayyad accepted Qassis’s resignation, tendered while Abbas was overseas. But according to an unnamed “knowledgeable source” who spoke to Ma’an news agency, the Palestinian president was outraged by the move and decided to sack Fayyad.

Jerusalem sources expressed regret at Fayyad’s resignation, calling him “a moderate who understood the importance of security cooperation with Israel.”

“While his departure may not have direct bearing on the diplomatic process, it may frustrate the Americans who trusted him and saw him as a responsible party.

Tensions between Abbas and Fayyad, an American-trained economist and political independent who enjoys the confidence of the West, have resulted in numerous resignation announcements by Fayyad in the past, none of which has materialized. Some skeptical observers believed that this new resignation was just another public relations maneuver by the disgruntled prime minister.

Last October, Fayyad offered to quit amid a sharp financial crisis and reconciliation talks with Islamic movement Hamas, which views his liberal economic and political positions with suspicion.

Abbas reportedly told Fatah’s Central Committee and Revolutionary Council that Fayyad now faces two options: either to reinstate Qassis or be fired. The source told Ma’an that Fayyad insisted on submitting his resignation upon Abbas’s return from an official trip to Qatar on Thursday, to preempt being dismissed by Abbas.

“There is a deep and serious problem between [Fayyad] and Chairman [Abbas],” Qadoura Fares, a former Fatah official who now deals primarily with Palestinian prisoners, told The Times of Israel. “The story with Qassis only intensified the problem.”

Fayyad, widely regarded as the mastermind behind the PA’s economic policies, was the main brunt of economic protests that swept the West Bank last September.

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum criticized rival Fayyad in a statement following his resignation, saying he and his government “worked to protect the Zionist occupation and US interests.”

Elhanan Miller contributed to this report