Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad Resigns, Concerns Raised On West Bank’s Political Stability

Salam Fayyad resigns – he is the internationally respected prime minister of the Palestinian Authority. His voluntary departure from office has raised concerns on the political stability of the West Bank. His resignation occurred days after Secretary of State John Kerry proposed a broad initiative to aid the Palestinian economy to shore up peace efforts.

The president of the Western-backed authority, Mahmoud Abbas, accepted Mr. Fayyad’s resignation. He had asked him, however, to remain in office until a new government could be formed, the goal being is to minimize upheaval from his resignation.

The timing of the resignation has been brewing for weeks over Mr. Fayyad’s differences with Mr. Abbas and his Fatah party. It seemed to deliver a blow to American prestige at the very least. The possibility of preventing the prime minister’s resignation was among the topics that President Obama discussed with both Mr. Fayyad and Mr. Abbas when he visited Ramallah, West Bank, last month. It was also a key focus in Mr. Kerry’s meeting with Mr. Abbas last week.

Since Mr. Kerry left the region, he had more than one telephone conversation with both men, in an attempt to prevent the resignation. Israeli officials have also been quietly urging Mr. Fayyad to stay, but fully aware that their public support for the official is likely to backfire.

“The U.S. worked very hard,” according to a Western diplomat familiar with the matter and spoke on conditions of anonymity to the New York Times. “Kerry asked him to stay. There’s been a lot of messaging from the Western community about how much we value Fayyad’s work.”

Tensions between Mr. Fayyad and Mr. Abbas burst out in early March when the finance minister, Nabil Qasis, announced that he is resigning from his post. Mr. Fayyad accepted the minister’s resignation against the wishes of Mr. Abbas.

According to Palestinian insiders, Mr. Fayyad, who is a political independent, submitted a letter to the president on March 23 laying out his intention to resign. In the meantime, Mr. Fayyad helped pass a new annual budget, spent a few days in the hospital after suffering stomach pains and kept things as planned during the visits of Pres. Obama and Mr. Kerry.

President Obama told an Israeli audience in Jerusalem that the Israelis had “true partners” in Mr. Abbas and Mr. Fayyad.

The resignation of Mr. Fayyad was sealed in a brief meeting with Mr. Abbas on Saturday evening, two days after Mr. Abbas returned from a trip abroad.