Palestinian cabinet resigns en masse
Nasser Abu Bakr
RAMALLAH, Nasser Abu Bakr- The Palestinian cabinet on Monday resigned ahead of summer polls, as the leadership sought to boost its legitimacy after the collapse of peace talks and two Arab uprisings.
The move, which has been on the cards since last year, was announced at a cabinet meeting in the West Bank town of Ramallah and comes on the heels of popular uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt.
Shortly afterwards, prime minister Salam Fayyad presented the official resignation letter to president Mahmud Abbas, who immediately reinstated him and tasked him with forming a new government.
A statement said the new government would be "charged with the most important mission of responding to calls for presidential, legislative and municipal elections."
The new government, the first since May 2009, will be tasked with pushing through the final stages of Fayyad's two-year plan for building state institutions -- due to be completed by August, the statement added.
It will also have to prepare for elections in the West Bank, the first time Palestinians have gone to the polls since 2006.
Local elections are scheduled for July 9, and parliamentary and presidential elections are to follow.
The new government will have to grasp the nettle of peace talks with Israel, which have been on ice since late last year over an intractable dispute about Jewish settlements.
New elections, announced over the past week, have been firmly rejected by Gaza's Hamas rulers, who have been locked in years of bitter rivalry with the Palestinian Authority, dominated by Abbas's Fatah movement.
Hamas won the 2006 elections, and seized control of the Gaza Strip a year later, kicking out Abbas loyalists in a week of bloody street battles.
The group has refused to recognise the president's authority since his mandate ended in January 2009.
The Palestinian Authority said his term of office had been extended until new elections are held to avoid a political vacuum.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said the cabinet reshuffle was simply a cosmetic measure.
The government "remains without judicial legality, because it is not chosen by the people and does not have the confidence of the legislative council (parliament)," he said in a statement.
The reshuffle, although long expected, comes after popular revolts in Egypt and Tunisia that overthrew the two nations' long-time rulers.
Fatah official Azzam al-Ahmad denied the timing of the move was related to the uprisings, pointing out that Abbas had announced months earlier that new ministers would be appointed.
"The change does not have any relationship to what has happened in the region, but is intended to improve governmental performance," he said.
Mahdi Abdul Hadi, a political scientist with the PASSIA (Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs) think tank, told AFP that the cabinet reshuffle was driven by a looming September deadline for declaring a Palestinian state, as well as by the impasse in peace negotiations.
But he said it was impossible to overlook the influence of protests that brought down Egypt's Hosni Mubarak and Tunisia's Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
"The fever of Tunis and Cairo is contagious, and nobody can stop it now," he said. "It is going to make some changes whether we like it or not."
Asked whether the reshuffle was likely to involve a radical shakeup of faces in the cabinet, Abdul Hadi said it would depend on how carefully Abbas and Fayyad had "read" the situation in Egypt and Tunisia.
"If the president and the prime minister... comprehend the cry for change and take seriously (the fact) that there is no more fear among the youth, that it is full of anger because of the impasse (in talks), there will be serious change," he said.
Consultations on forming the new cabinet have already begun, Palestinian sources said, and Fayyad has five weeks to decide on the new line-up.
But Abdul Hadi said the process was likely to be quick, to head off protests.
"It will be something similar to what happened in Jordan," he said. "The king dismissed the government and immediately had a new cabinet the next day to try to water down the anger in the streets."
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A statement said the new government would be "charged with the most important mission of responding to calls for presidential, legislative and municipal elections."
The new government, the first since May 2009, will be tasked with pushing through the final stages of Fayyad's two-year plan for building state institutions -- due to be completed by August, the statement added.
It will also have to prepare for elections in the West Bank, the first time Palestinians have gone to the polls since 2006.
Local elections are scheduled for July 9, and parliamentary and presidential elections are to follow.
The new government will have to grasp the nettle of peace talks with Israel, which have been on ice since late last year over an intractable dispute about Jewish settlements.
New elections, announced over the past week, have been firmly rejected by Gaza's Hamas rulers, who have been locked in years of bitter rivalry with the Palestinian Authority, dominated by Abbas's Fatah movement.
Hamas won the 2006 elections, and seized control of the Gaza Strip a year later, kicking out Abbas loyalists in a week of bloody street battles.
The group has refused to recognise the president's authority since his mandate ended in January 2009.
The Palestinian Authority said his term of office had been extended until new elections are held to avoid a political vacuum.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said the cabinet reshuffle was simply a cosmetic measure.
The government "remains without judicial legality, because it is not chosen by the people and does not have the confidence of the legislative council (parliament)," he said in a statement.
The reshuffle, although long expected, comes after popular revolts in Egypt and Tunisia that overthrew the two nations' long-time rulers.
Fatah official Azzam al-Ahmad denied the timing of the move was related to the uprisings, pointing out that Abbas had announced months earlier that new ministers would be appointed.
"The change does not have any relationship to what has happened in the region, but is intended to improve governmental performance," he said.
Mahdi Abdul Hadi, a political scientist with the PASSIA (Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs) think tank, told AFP that the cabinet reshuffle was driven by a looming September deadline for declaring a Palestinian state, as well as by the impasse in peace negotiations.
But he said it was impossible to overlook the influence of protests that brought down Egypt's Hosni Mubarak and Tunisia's Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
"The fever of Tunis and Cairo is contagious, and nobody can stop it now," he said. "It is going to make some changes whether we like it or not."
Asked whether the reshuffle was likely to involve a radical shakeup of faces in the cabinet, Abdul Hadi said it would depend on how carefully Abbas and Fayyad had "read" the situation in Egypt and Tunisia.
"If the president and the prime minister... comprehend the cry for change and take seriously (the fact) that there is no more fear among the youth, that it is full of anger because of the impasse (in talks), there will be serious change," he said.
Consultations on forming the new cabinet have already begun, Palestinian sources said, and Fayyad has five weeks to decide on the new line-up.
But Abdul Hadi said the process was likely to be quick, to head off protests.
"It will be something similar to what happened in Jordan," he said. "The king dismissed the government and immediately had a new cabinet the next day to try to water down the anger in the streets."
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