Palestinian government ‘submits resignation’

Ramallah: The Palestinian government officially submitted its resignation to president Mahmud Abbas Tuesday, a statement said, though it will remain in place while a new administration is formed. Analysts see the change in government as an attempt by Abbas to strengthen his position and further isolate his political rivals Hamas as a decade-long split in Palestinian politics deepens.
“The government of Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah submitted on Tuesday its resignation to President Mahmud Abbas,” official news agency Wafa said in English following a cabinet meeting. The govt “will continue to serve our people wherever they are and shoulder all its responsibilities until a new government is formed,” it added. Hamdallah had offered to resign Monday, after the central committee of Abbas’s Fatah movement recommended the formation of a new government that would comprise members of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO). The Islamist movement Hamas, which runs the Gaza Strip, is not part of the PLO.