Shtayyeh’s decision comes as the United States pressures the Palestinian Authority to work on a political structure capable of governing a Palestinian state after the Gaza war.
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh announced the resignation of his government, which rules parts of the occupied West Bank, due to escalating violence in the occupied territory and the war on Gaza.
“The decision to resign came in light of the unprecedented escalation in the West Bank and Jerusalem and the war, genocide and famine in the Gaza Strip,” said Shtayyeh, who submitted his resignation to the President of the Palestinian Authority (PA), Mahmoud Abbas.
“I see that the next stage and its challenges require new governmental and political arrangements that take into account the new reality in Gaza and the need for a Palestinian-Palestinian consensus based on Palestinian unity and the extension of unity of authority over the land of Palestine. ,” he said.
Shtayyeh’s comments come as U.S. pressure increases on Abbas to shake up the Palestinian Authority and begin work on a political structure capable of governing a Palestinian state after the war.
However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected calls for the PA under Abbas to take control of a Palestinian state and govern Gaza.
Last week, Israeli lawmakers backed Netanyahu’s rejection of any “unilateral” recognition of Palestinian statehood.
“The Knesset came together overwhelmingly against the attempt to impose on us the creation of a Palestinian state, which would not only fail to bring peace, but would endanger the State of Israel,” said Netanyahu.
But the Palestinian Foreign Ministry criticized the vote and accused Israel of holding Palestinian rights hostage due to its occupation of Palestinian territories.
“The ministry reaffirms that full membership of the State of Palestine in the United Nations and its recognition by other nations does not require authorization from Netanyahu,” it said in a statement.
Since the signing of the Oslo Accords in the early 1990s, little progress has been made toward a two-state solution.
As the International Court of Justice hears opinions from around 50 countries on the legal implications of Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced Thursday his intention to build more than 3,300 new homes in response to shooting that killed an Israeli civilian.
Smotrich said the move would start an approval process for 300 new homes in the Kedar settlement and 2,350 in Maale Adumim, where the attack took place.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he was “disappointed” to learn of the Israeli announcement of the new settlements.
“Long-standing U.S. policy, both under Republican and Democratic administrations, views new settlements as counterproductive to achieving lasting peace,” he said in Buenos Aires.
“They are also incompatible with international law. Our administration remains strongly opposed to settlement expansion and, in our view, it only weakens, not strengthens, Israel’s security.”
Violence in the occupied West Bank escalated significantly following the Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7, which killed 1,139 people. Israel’s retaliatory bombing of Gaza has killed more than 29,000 Palestinian civilians, according to the strip’s health ministry.
Palestinian health officials also say that at least 401 people were killed by Israeli fire in the occupied West Bank during the same period.
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