ID :
160982
Mon, 02/14/2011 - 19:49
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/160982
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PA Premier dissolves cabinet as Arab unrest rings alarm bells
Harinder Mishra, Jerusalem, Feb 14 (PTI) Apparently alarmed by the
political unrest gripping the Arab world, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad dissolved his cabinet after an emergency meeting on Monday.
The cabinet met a short while before the announcement
to discuss a possible reshuffle, or even resignation.
Fayyad, an economist backed by the West, hopes to
form a new Cabinet dominated by technocrats in about a month
and a half.
The decision is the latest in a series of dramatic
moves made by the West-backed PA, whose authority is limited
to the West Bank, as mass protests have spurred calls for
democracy throughout the region.
PA President Mahmoud Abbas announced that he had
accepted Fayyad's decision.
The move seems to be designed at staving off any
Egypt-inspired efforts to oust the current leadership comes as
a pro-democracy wave has swept the middle eastern region ever
since the Tunisians drove out the autocratic regime of Zin El
Abidine Ben Ali.
The new cabinet would be entrusted with the
responsibility of building and strengthening Palestinian
institutions, PA sources said.
The West Bank leadership has also announced that it
would hold the long-overdue municipal elections by September.
Islamist Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip after it
vanquished forces loyal to the PA in June 2007, has decided to
boycott the polls if it is not preceded by reconciliation
among various Palestinian factions.
Presidential elections were due in January 2009 and
parliamentary elections in 2010, but the PA has failed to
conduct the same due to its lack of control over the Gaza
Strip.
Hamas, which has refused to recognise Israel despite
international pressure, won the 2006 parliamentary poll in a
landslide victory, a year after Abbas won the Presidential
elections in a direct contest boycotted by the rival Islamist
movement.
The Palestinian Authority government also announced
over the weekend that it would hold the long-overdue general
elections later this year.
The chief PA peace negotiator, Saeb Erekat, also
resigned last week in the face of embarrassing leaks about the
concessions that his government was prepared to make to Israel
in a peace deal.
Palestinian Authority spokesman Ghassan Khatib sought
to dispel the notion that the cabinet reshuffle came in the
wake of the recent events sweeping the Arab world.
"It's not tied to the new changes in the region,"
Khatib said.
political unrest gripping the Arab world, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad dissolved his cabinet after an emergency meeting on Monday.
The cabinet met a short while before the announcement
to discuss a possible reshuffle, or even resignation.
Fayyad, an economist backed by the West, hopes to
form a new Cabinet dominated by technocrats in about a month
and a half.
The decision is the latest in a series of dramatic
moves made by the West-backed PA, whose authority is limited
to the West Bank, as mass protests have spurred calls for
democracy throughout the region.
PA President Mahmoud Abbas announced that he had
accepted Fayyad's decision.
The move seems to be designed at staving off any
Egypt-inspired efforts to oust the current leadership comes as
a pro-democracy wave has swept the middle eastern region ever
since the Tunisians drove out the autocratic regime of Zin El
Abidine Ben Ali.
The new cabinet would be entrusted with the
responsibility of building and strengthening Palestinian
institutions, PA sources said.
The West Bank leadership has also announced that it
would hold the long-overdue municipal elections by September.
Islamist Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip after it
vanquished forces loyal to the PA in June 2007, has decided to
boycott the polls if it is not preceded by reconciliation
among various Palestinian factions.
Presidential elections were due in January 2009 and
parliamentary elections in 2010, but the PA has failed to
conduct the same due to its lack of control over the Gaza
Strip.
Hamas, which has refused to recognise Israel despite
international pressure, won the 2006 parliamentary poll in a
landslide victory, a year after Abbas won the Presidential
elections in a direct contest boycotted by the rival Islamist
movement.
The Palestinian Authority government also announced
over the weekend that it would hold the long-overdue general
elections later this year.
The chief PA peace negotiator, Saeb Erekat, also
resigned last week in the face of embarrassing leaks about the
concessions that his government was prepared to make to Israel
in a peace deal.
Palestinian Authority spokesman Ghassan Khatib sought
to dispel the notion that the cabinet reshuffle came in the
wake of the recent events sweeping the Arab world.
"It's not tied to the new changes in the region,"
Khatib said.
