Fayyad's resignation is an attempt to get foreign powers to influence Palestinian dialogue talks, in particular to declare that they will only do business with a government he heads, writes Saleh Al-Naami Although he attempted to make it sensational, the resignation of Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad came as no surprise. Fayyad justified his resignation by saying that it was aimed to allow national dialogue efforts, including efforts entrusted with the issue of forming a new government, to succeed having begun in earnest. Rival Palestinian factions opened talks on forming a unity government Tuesday, at the start of 10 days of negotiations in Cairo. Omar Suleiman, Egypt's General Intelligence chief and mediator of the talks, urged all participants to forget their recent clashes and focus on the future. "The Palestinian people are watching the results of these talks, so please do not let them down," Suleiman said. "We are only looking towards the future, and your meeting today is the beginning of that path." Pressured by Egypt, and by the international community that has put up some $4.5 billion for the reconstruction of Gaza and advancement of the West Bank, Palestinian factions have come to the table in five different committees aimed at addressing the issues that divide them. Some, however, are easier to resolve than others. "On the issue of the government and its programme, we are not too far off," said Fatah senior negotiator Nabil Shaath, the faction's representative in the committee tasked with forming a mutually agreeable government. Aside from the issue of a unity government, committees will deliberate the holding of new elections, reforming the Palestinian security services, carrying out confidence- building measures and finding a role for Hamas in the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO). Fayyad's resignation does not mean that his government will stop working, for according to the resignation letter sent to Palestinian Authority head Mahmoud Abbas Fayyad's government will continue functioning until a national unity government is agreed upon. Hence, it is likely that Abbas will charge Fayyad with forming a new government should Palestinian factions fail to agree on its form. Hamas has welcomed Fayyad's resignation and considers it to have opened up the possibility of success for national dialogue. Deputy head of the Hamas parliamentary bloc Yehia Moussa says that Fayyad lacks popular support because he is seen as having been involved in strikes made at the resistance. In a statement to Al-Ahram Weekly, Moussa said that Fayyad has no legitimacy granted by the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC). Moussa further holds that the enthusiasm of Israel and the US administration for a person like Fayyad as head of the Palestinian government proves that he is not taking the national interests of the Palestinian people to heart. The best evidence for this charge, Moussa says, are the severe orders that Fayyad issued to security agencies for the suppression of resistance fighters and cooperation he has overseen with Israeli security agencies. Moussa further hopes that Fayyad's resignation might bolster national dialogue efforts by removing obstacles such as the issue of political detentions. For its part, the dismissed government led by Ismail Haniyeh has called for it to be enabled in the West Bank following Fayyad's resignation, on the basis of it being the sole legitimate government. Government spokesperson Taher Al-Nunu said in a statement released to the Weekly, "We call for putting matters back into their proper place and enabling our legitimate government to assume its full role in the West Bank in accordance with the law and until national dialogue comes to a close in Cairo and a new government is formed." He added that Fayyad's government is "illegitimate and is functioning illegally and contrary to the will of the Palestinian public whose majority voted for the platform of change and reform implemented by the legitimate government led by Haniyeh". Last Sunday's edition of the Israeli newspaper Haaretz noted that the US administration has clearly stipulated that Fayyad be appointed the head of any new Palestinian government in order to receive financial aid and recognition. The newspaper reported that US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton informed representatives of European and Arab states who attended the international donors conference in Sharm El-Sheikh that this was Washington's position. It further reported Western diplomatic sources as saying that the United States had sent an indirect message to Hamas that with the exception of Fayyad, the administration would not hold communications with any members of the upcoming Palestinian government, even if it were formed of technocrats who were neither members of Fatah nor Hamas. The paper noted that the US administration views Fayyad as a candidate for the head of the Palestinian Authority in the next presidential election. It also reported that the deputy US National Security Council adviser in the Bush administration, the neoconservative Elliot Abrams, had praised Fayyad in an article recently published in The Weekly Standard. Political science professor at the Al-Azhar University Naji Sharab holds that Fayyad's resignation is a measure meant to rescue national dialogue and to allow a margin of manoeuvre for himself in dealing with the dialogue's possible outcomes. "Fayyad knows that if the dialogue succeeds and produces an agreement on forming a new government, that his own government will immediately resign, but that if it fails, he will be able to form a new government from a stronger and more influential position," Sharab told the Weekly. He added that Fayyad knows that Hamas won't accept him continuing to head the government following the conclusion of national dialogue, but that an agreement could be reached on making him the new minister of finance. Sharab makes light of leaks that the US administration won't deal with any government other than that led by Fayyad, and says that there is growing international realisation that a national unity government in which Hamas participates must be recognised. Sharab also says that national dialogue is more likely to succeed than to fail since both Hamas and Fatah realise that their margin for manoeuvre is extremely thin and that reaching an agreement would be in the interest of both sides. Sharab holds that the recent reconciliation that has warmed up Syrian-Saudi relations created appropriate conditions for the success of Palestinian national dialogue. An informed Palestinian source told the Weekly that independent Palestinian parties are hard at work to produce "creative formulations" that would allow Hamas and Fatah to overcome expected obstacles to forming a new national unity government. This source says that there is consensus that the primary obstacle to agreeing on the government's formation is its political programme, whereby Fatah insists that it include a clear reference to accepting a two-state solution, a position that Hamas opposes. This source further says that a focus on overcoming expected obstacles stems from an agreement that doing so is a prerequisite to reconstruction in the Gaza Strip following the Israeli war that destroyed thousands of homes and numerous official institutions. Although these "creative formulations" have not yet seen the light, this source says that Fatah and Hamas seem as though they will be flexible in facilitating the formation of a unity government, especially in the context of the rise of the Israeli right to power. Despite Abbas's statements about the programme of the new government, there is an impression that he is prepared to agree to formulations that Hamas can support, particularly since the likelihood of the peace process recommencing in the near future has diminished since the political shift in Israel. As for Hamas, its flexibility may come from not involving prominent leaders in the new government, the source explains. "No one holds any delusions about the deep differences between the parties to the dialogue, or between Fatah and Hamas," says this source when questioned on the other issues under discussion in the dialogue. At the head of these issues is the future of the PLO, about which it will be very difficult for the parties to bridge their differences. The other key issue that might prevent a national agreement that would put an end to the domestic rift is related to the future of the security agencies in the West Bank. Both Israel and the US will not allow for an agreement to reform West Bank security agencies on a national and professional basis, and it will be difficult for Fatah and Hamas to agree on a scenario that would allow Hamas members to join the security apparatus. Another major obstacle will be in deciding the authority behind the security agencies and whether the president or the government should determine their powers. Yet another hurdle that must be passed is the new government's rejection of continued security cooperation between the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Israeli security agencies. Fayyad's resignation is a symbolic measure that will not produce any real outcome. For one, it is tied to the success of national dialogue, and it has become a given that Fayyad will have to resign if the factions agree on the formation of a unity government. Fayyad's advance resignation is thus a call to foreign parties to influence the dialogue and its outcomes.
