April 15, 2013 | Quote
Abbas to Appoint PM or Head Gov’t Himself
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has not decided who will replace Salam Fayyad as PA prime minister, sources in Ramallah said on Sunday.
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Last weekend, US Secretary of State John Kerry phoned Abbas and urged him not to accept Fayyad’s resignation – a request that PA and Fatah officials strongly denounced as “degrading.”
“Fayyad did not want to be seen as someone who has been imposed on the Palestinians and Fatah by the Americans,” Abu Zayda said.
“On the other hand, Abbas cannot afford to be seen as someone who succumbed to US pressure.”
Jonathan Schanzer, vice president of research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said Fayyad’s resignation represented a blow to Kerry’s efforts to persuade Abbas to keep him in his position.
“He lobbied strenuously to prevent this, and he failed.
This is a troubling indication of the new secretary of state’s ability to influence events in other areas, such as diplomacy,” Schanzer said.
He added that none of the candidates on the short list to replace Fayyad were viable reformers. “Whether Mohammad Mustafa, [former PA public works and housing minister] Azzam al- Ahmed or even Rami Hamdallah, it is significantly less likely that the new prime minister challenges Abbas on matters of transparency and reform,” he said.
The appointment of a new prime minister would still not satisfy concerns of legislators on Capitol Hill regarding the looming succession crisis in the PA, Schanzer said.
“If Abbas was unfit to lead, the new prime minister would not replace him according to Palestinian law.
Rather, it would be the speaker of the Palestinian Parliament, Aziz Dweik [of Hamas], who would hold the position for 60 days. This would likely trigger a crisis that US legislators are trying to avoid.”