Calls for Abbas to resign over prison raid

Several officials in Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah Party have called on him to resign and dissolve the Palestinian Authority to protest against Israel’s raid of a West Bank prison earlier this week, party officials said Friday.

The raid, in which Israeli troops grabbed suspects in the assassination of an Israeli Cabinet minister, was seen as a blow to Abbas’ prestige.

Abbas himself has denounced the raid as an insult to his people.

During a meeting of senior Fatah officials last night, several suggested to Abbas that he resign and dissolve the Palestinian Authority, said Taysir Nasrallah, a senior Fatah activist from the West Bank city of Nablus.

Were the Palestinian government to be dissolved, Israel would be forced to step in as an occupying power and assume direct responsibility for the Palestinians.

A dissolution of the Palestinian Authority would also render the victory of the Islamic militant Hamas in January parliament elections meaningless.