Palestinian government resigns in possible power move by Mahmoud Abbas

Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah submitted his government’s resignation on Tuesday, in a step that would likely end stalled attempts at reconciling with the rival Hamas movement.

Hamdallah’s government “will continue to serve our people wherever they are and shoulder all its responsibilities until a new government is formed,” the official news agency Wafa reported following a Cabinet meeting.

It was not clear how this will impact policy, as President Mahmoud Abbas still remains the main decision-maker and representative with the international community.

The new cabinet is expected to be comprised of parties aligned with the Palestine Liberation Organization, which does not include the Islamist group, Hamas, or its allies.

Hamas criticized the resignation, saying that Abbas was attempting to form a “separatist government” to serve his interests.

“Our people need a national unity government,” Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said in a statement.

An end to a stalled government

The unity government was formed in 2014 as part of a power-sharing agreement with Hamas. The Islamist group gained control of the Gaza Strip in a violent takeover in 2007.

However, the government never assumed its responsibilities in the Gaza Strip, and Hamdallah was nearly killed in an assassination attempt in 2018 when an explosion hit his convoy during a visit to Gaza.

The Palestinian government accused Hamas of being behind the attack, claims that the group denies.

Palestinian politics have been essentially paralyzed since the Gaza Strip takeover in 2007, with Abbas’ governments continuing to have limited self-rule in the occupied West Bank while Hamas has led a rival government in the Gaza Strip.

Hamas is regarded as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union and others.

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  A history of the Middle East peace process

  UN Security Council Resolution 242, 1967

  United Nations Security Council Resolution 242, passed on November 22, 1967, called for the exchange of land for peace. Since then, many of the attempts to establish peace in the region have referred to 242. The resolution was written in accordance with Chapter VI of the UN Charter, under which resolutions are recommendations, not orders.

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  A history of the Middle East peace process

  Camp David Accords, 1978

  A coalition of Arab states, led by Egypt and Syria, fought Israel in the Yom Kippur or October War in October 1973. The conflict eventually led to the secret peace talks that yielded two agreements after 12 days. This picture from March 26, 1979, shows Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, his US counterpart Jimmy Carter and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin after signing the accords in Washington.

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  A history of the Middle East peace process

  The Madrid Conference, 1991

  The US and the former Soviet Union came together to organize a conference in the Spanish capital city of Madrid. The discussions involved Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and Palestinians — not from the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) — who met with Israeli negotiators for the first time. While the conference achieved little, it did create the framework for later, more productive talks.

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  A history of the Middle East peace process

  Oslo I Accord, 1993

  The negotiations in Norway between Israel and the PLO, the first direct meeting between the two parties, resulted in the the Oslo I Accord. The agreement was signed in the US in September 1993. It demanded that Israeli troops withdraw from West Bank and Gaza and a self-governing, interim Palestinian authority be set up for a five-year transitional period. A second accord was signed in 1995.

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  A history of the Middle East peace process

  Camp David Summit Meeting, 2000

  US President Bill Clinton invited Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat to the retreat in July 2000 to discuss borders, security, settlements, refugees and Jerusalem. Despite the negotiations being more detailed than ever before, no agreement was concluded. The failure to reach a consensus at Camp David was followed by renewed Palestinian uprising, the Second Intifada.

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  A history of the Middle East peace process

  The Arab Peace Initiative, 2002

  The Camp David negotiations were followed first by meetings in Washington and then in Cairo and Taba, Egypt — all without results. Later the Arab League proposed the Arab Peace Initiative in Beirut in March 2002. The plan called on Israel to withdraw to pre-1967 borders so that a Palestinian state could be set up in the West Bank and Gaza. In return, Arab countries would agree to recognize Israel.

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  A history of the Middle East peace process

  The Roadmap, 2003

  The US, EU, Russia and the UN worked together as the Middle East Quartet to develop a road map to peace. While Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas accepted the text, his Israeli counterpart Ariel Sharon had more reservations with the wording. The timetable called for a final agreement on a two-state solution to be reached in 2005. Unfortunately, it was never implemented.

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  A history of the Middle East peace process

  Annapolis, 2007

  In 2007 US President George W. Bush hosted a conference in Annapolis, Maryland, to relaunch the peace process. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas took part in talks with officials from the Quartet and over a dozen Arab states. It was agreed that further negotiations would be held with the goal of reaching a peace deal by the end of 2008.

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  A history of the Middle East peace process

  Washington, 2010

  In 2010, US Middle East Envoy George Mitchell convinced Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to and implement a ten-month moratorium on settlements in disputed territories. Later, Netanyahu and Abbas agreed to relaunch direct negotiations to resolve all issues. Negotiations began in Washington in September 2010, but within weeks there was a deadlock.

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  A history of the Middle East peace process

  Cycle of escalation and ceasefire continues

  A new round of violence broke out in and around Gaza late 2012. A ceasefire was reached between Israel and those in power in the Gaza Strip, which held until June 2014. The kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers in June 2014 resulted in renewed violence and eventually led to the Israeli military operation Protective Edge. It ended with a ceasefire on August 26, 2014.

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  A history of the Middle East peace process

  Paris Summit, 2017

  Envoys from over 70 countries gathered in Paris, France, to discuss the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. Netanyahu slammed the discussions as “rigged” against his country. Neither Israeli nor Palestinian representatives attended the summit. “A two-state solution is the only possible one,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said at the opening of the event.

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  A history of the Middle East peace process

  Deteriorating relations in 2017

  Despite the year’s optimistic opening, 2017 brought further stagnation in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. A deadly summer attack on Israeli police at the Temple Mount, a site holy to both Jews and Muslims, sparked deadly clashes. Then US President Donald Trump’s plan to move the embassy to Jerusalem prompted Palestinian leader Abbas to say “the measures … undermine all peace efforts.”

  Author: Aasim Saleem

rs/aw (AP, AFP)

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