Government of the Palestinian Authority submitted its resignation to President Mahmoud Abbas

Mohammad Shtayyeh, prime minister of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), the entity that governs small areas of the occupied West Bank, presented the resignation of his Executive this Monday after more than a month of pressure from the US and alleging the urgent need “for an inter-Palestinian consensus” capable of replacing Hamas in the Gaza Strip, while the postwar plan for the enclave is debated.

“I made the government’s resignation available to President Mahmoud Abbas last Tuesday, February 20, and today I have presented it in writing,” said the prime minister at the beginning of a meeting with his entire cabinet in Ramallah, the occupied West Bank.

“New governmental and political agreements are required that take into account the emerging reality in the Gaza Strip, the national unity talks and the urgent need for an inter-Palestinian consensus based on a national basis,” Shtayyeh alleged, as quoted by the Palestinian agency Wafa. .

The ANP government, dominated by the Fatah political party, maintained administrative control of both the West Bank and Gaza until 2007, when after Hamas won the legislative elections a year earlier, it expelled it from the Strip and imposed de facto control. .

Although Israel opposes both the PNA’s return to Gaza after the end of a war and the creation of a Palestinian state, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced in a draft postwar plan that civilian control of Gaza would fall to officials. premises far from “countries or entities that support terrorism,” according to a document made public on the 23rd.

For its part, the US says it is in favor of a reformed entity that has the support of the Palestinians. Meeting with Abbas in Ramallah on January 10, United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken assured the president that Washington supports “tangible steps” towards the creation of a Palestinian state, but demanded that the ANP undergo “renewal” in the face of its legitimacy crises among the Palestinians.

For years, both the Palestinian Government and the Presidency of Abbas, who is 88 years old and has not undergone presidential elections since 2005, have enjoyed little popularity among citizens, according to a survey carried out by the Palestinian Center for Survey and Policy Research. in December.

So, less than two months after the brutal Hamas attack on Israeli soil that killed 1,200 people, More than 60% of Palestinians in the West Bank wanted the dissolution of the PNA, while 92% supported Abbas’ resignation, according to the survey.

The formation of a new ANP Executive, however, does not contemplate a change in the presidency, which would remain in the hands of Abbas, so the chances of it enjoying broad popular support seem low.