Palestinian PM submits resignation

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad submitted his resignation today, a move that could help pave the way for an elusive power-sharing deal between Palestinian moderates and militants.

Fayyad was appointed prime minister by Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in June 2007, in response to the violent takeover of Gaza by the Islamic militant Hamas that month.

Abbas and the Fayyad government control the West Bank, while Hamas continues to rule Gaza, despite a recent three-week Israeli military offensive there.

Fayyad’s decision was meant as a confidence-building measure, ahead of the resumption of Palestinian reconciliation talks on Tuesday in Cairo. Negotiators from Hamas and Abbas’ Fatah movement are trying to form a transition government that is to prepare for presidential and legislative elections by January 2010.

Abbas said today that he hoped a transition government could be formed by the end of March, suggesting that power-sharing talks had moved into high gear, following failed attempts in the past.

Fayyad’s resignation “comes to enhance and support the national dialogue to reach a national unity government,” Abbas said.

Fayyad said he would step down after the formation of a new government, but no later than the end of March.

However, Hamas seemed dismissive today, arguing that the Fayyad government had been unconstitutional from the start.

“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,” said Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza.

Fayyad, a respected economist and a political independent, had won widespread international support as prime minister. He carried out government reforms, including making government spending more transparent and deploying Palestinian security forces in former militant strongholds in the West Bank.

Fayyad said in a statement today that he was hoping to pave the way for a unity government. “This step comes in the efforts to form a national conciliation government,” Fayyad said.