Palestinian PM Shtayyeh submits resignation amid calls for reform

By Fadwa Hodali and Alisa Odenheimer

The prime minister of the Palestinian Authority, Mohammad Shtayyeh, tendered his resignation amid a broad push by Arab states and the US for the governing agency to reform itself.
 

It wasn’t immediately clear if President Mahmoud Abbas would allow Shtayyeh and the rest of his government to step down. 

But the prime minister’s announcement on Monday marks a likely shift within the Palestinian Authority, as it tries to carve out a role for itself in the governance of the Palestinian territories once the fighting between Israel and Hamas in Gaza comes to an end.

The US and Arab countries in the region have been pushing for a reformed Palestinian Authority since the current fighting began on Oct. 7, when Hamas raided southern Israeli towns, killing some 1,200 people and kidnapping over 200 others.

“The next stage and its challenges require new governmental and political arrangements,” Shtayyeh said. Those need to take into account “the emerging reality in the Gaza Strip, the national unity talks, and the urgent need for an inter-Palestinian consensus.”

The PA’s authority must be “over the entire land of Palestine,” he said, referring to Gaza and the West Bank.

The war has so far claimed the lives of some 30,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the health ministry run by Hamas, which is designated a terrorist organization by the US and European Union. Hamas-led authorities don’t announce how many of those killed in the war are combatants.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in November that he discussed with Abbas “the need to reform, the need to revitalize and revamp the Palestinian Authority” including through moves to end corruption and support a free press.

Shtayyeh said in December that his government is working with US officials on a plan to run Gaza after the war is over and that his preferred outcome of the conflict would be for Hamas to become a junior partner under the broader Palestine Liberation Organization after accepting PLO principles.

So far, there’s no sign that Hamas will agree to that.