Why did the Government of Palestine Resign?

• 06.18.2015, 00:20
•  Near East,  World

What is now going on in the Middle East is quite complicated and the stabilization of the situation is not seen yet. The constant incidents happening even do not give any hope that the situation will become better in the near future. This time, though it cannot be called an incident, it was the information about the resignation of the Palestinian government, that raised many questions.

Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah handed his resignation to President Mahmoud Abbas on June 17, and on the same day Abbas ordered him to form a new government. This information has been confirmed by adviser Nimr Hammad to the PA president, but Fatah officials denied the report, claiming that the talks between the two sides have not been concluded yet, The Jerusalem Post reports. To form a new government, consultations with various Palestinian factions will be held, among them Hamas.

But what was the reason or reasons for such a move. Why did Palestinian government dissolved right now? The first cause that is much touched upon in the media is disseminated information that Hamas and Israel hold talks for a five-year truce with the mediation of the European Union, Turkey and Qatar.  This information has made many in Israel quite uneasy as well. The chairman of Yisrael Beytenu, Avigdor Liberman declared that if the reports that Israel is negotiating with Hamas on a five-year truce are corresponding to the reality, then the Israeli government is "capitulating to terrorism." What is interesting is that several media, among them AlJazeera quotes the words of Salah Bardawil, a senior Hamas leader and legislator, saying: "There are a number of European officials who have put forward a verbal initiative for a potential long-term truce in the Gaza Strip that extends the ceasefire from three to five years." This is a confirmation to what has been disseminated, but one cannot say it for sure, as this is not something official.

Another reason for the resignation of the Palestinian government, which again has a direct connection with the above mentioned, is the destructive role of Hamas in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Palestinian unity government, a government formed in 2014 as a result of an agreement between Fatah and Hamas, which by the way angered Israel, as it considers Hamas as a terrorist organization, did not work effectively. No change of situation, no progress has been recorded since then. Just vice versa, the separate actions of Hamas, which in many cases were quite destructive, showed that these efforts were in vain.

Still it is quite early and difficult to predict the form of the new Palestinian government, but what can be said for sure, is that this will be a complicated process.