Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad dissolved his cabinet on Monday, a gesture that appears to be inspired by unrest rocking the Arab world.
President Mahmoud Abbas announced that he had accepted Fayyad’s decision. The cabinet met just before to discuss a possible reshuffle, or even resignation, in a bid to stave off the demonstrations that had led to the ouster of leaders in both Tunisia and Egypt.
Fayyad hopes to form a new Cabinet dominated by technocrats who can build up Palestinian institutions, an aide said. He has up to six weeks to name the Cabinet.
The decision is the latest in a series of dramatic moves by the Western-backed Palestinian Authority as mass protests spur calls for democracy throughout the Middle East.
The PA has taken other steps as well to ensure stability in light of the public’s thirst for change, and Abbas has announced long overdue elections by next September.
Based on initial plans, presidential elections should have been held in early 2009 and parliamentary ones in 2010. However, the Palestinian president has had difficulty bringing about elections on time due to the Gaza- West Bank split.
Hamas, the Islamist movement currently controlling the Gaza Strip, has long been at odds with Abbas and his secular Palestinian party Fatah. This power struggle came to a head in 2007 when Hamas seized control of the strip.
The Islamist movement had previously beaten Fatah in a 2006 parliamentary poll, one year after Abbas won in separate presidential elections.
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