Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad has submitted his resignation to President Mahmoud Abbas, he said in a statement. The move comes ahead of power-sharing talks next Tuesday between Mr Abbas and his rivals from Hamas, whose government was dismissed by Abbas in June 2007 after it took control of the Gaza Strip. Mr. Fayyad has been prime minister of an interim government since then.
The statement said Mr Fayyad's resignation would pave the way for the formation of a national unity government.
Mr Fayyad said his resignation would take effect following the formation of the unity government by the end of March, a statement by Fayyad's office said.
Samir Abdullah, Minister of Planning in Fayyad's government, announced that the Prime Minister submitted the government's resignation to Abbas two months ago so that the government would not hamper the national dialogue.
He pointed out that the dialogue of the five committees for the Palestinian reconciliation would start soon and that the government affirmed its commitment to managing the dialogue successfully and forming a national unity government. However, Abdullah did not rule out the formation of an alternative government in case the Palestinian agreement was delayed. For its part, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum dismissed Fayyad's announcement. "This government did not work for the sake of the Palestinians, it worked for its own agenda. This end was expected for a government that was illegal and unconstitutional," Barhoum said, adding that Fayyad's government followed a US agenda. On the ground, a Palestinian has been killed and another wounded in an Israeli air strike on their car in the town of Beit Lahiya, in the north of the Gaza Strip. Eyewitnesses reported that the man was a member of Saraya Al Quds, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad Movement. They added that he had fired rockets at the Israeli town of Sderot before being targeted. Saraya Al Quds said it launched six rockets from Gaza into southern Israel, adding it was ready to face any aggression against the Palestinian people in Gaza.
The Israeli authorities have informed 21 Arab families in the occupied city of Jerusalem that their houses would be demolished under the pretext that they had no licenses. For its part, the European Union has accused Israel of seeking to illegally annex East Jerusalem and undermining the possibilities of reaching a peace agreement. A confidential report by the EU, of which The Guardian got a copy, said the Israeli government uses settlement expansion, the demolition of homes and the policies of racial discrimination with regard to housing units and the separation wall in the West Bank as a means to continue the illegal annexation of East Jerusalem.
