Palestinian factions: Forming a new government without a national consensus deepens the division

Gaza – Yesterday, Friday, Palestinian factions denounced President Mahmoud Abbas’s assignment of Muhammad Mustafa to form a new government without national consensus, in a move they considered “a reinforcement of the policy of exclusivity and a deepening of division,” questioning the feasibility of replacing one government with another and a prime minister with another “from the same political environment.”

On Thursday, Abbas appointed the technocratic head of the Palestine Investment Fund (sovereign fund), Muhammad Mustafa, to form a new government to succeed Muhammad Shtayyeh, who submitted his resignation last February.

In response to this, a number of Palestinian factions said in a joint statement, “Making individual decisions and preoccupation with formal steps devoid of substance, such as forming a new government without national consensus, is a reinforcement of the policy of exclusivity and a deepening of division.”

She added that this comes “at a pivotal historical moment (the aggression on Gaza) when our people and their national cause are in dire need of consensus and unity, and the formation of a unified national leadership, preparing to hold free, democratic elections with the participation of all components of the Palestinian people.”

The factions continued: “Our people have the right to question the feasibility of replacing one government with another, and one prime minister with another, from the same political and partisan environment.”

The Prime Minister-designate is not a member of the Fatah movement led by President Abbas, but he is an “independent” member of the Executive Committee of the PLO, and has held a number of positions in previous governments, in addition to heading the Palestine Investment Fund, one of the institutions of the PLO since 2015.

The Palestinian factions affirmed, in their statement, that “the highest national priority now is to confront the barbaric Zionist aggression and the war of extermination and starvation that the occupation is waging against our people in the Gaza Strip, and to confront the crimes of its settlers in the West Bank and occupied Jerusalem, especially Al-Aqsa Mosque, and the great dangers facing our national cause.” “The most important thing is the threat of displacement that still exists.”

She considered that these steps by President Abbas “indicate the depth of the crisis within the leadership of the Authority, its separation from reality, and the large gap between it and our people and their concerns and aspirations, which is confirmed by the opinions of the vast majority of our people who have expressed their loss of confidence in these policies and trends.”

She continued: “In light of the Palestinian Authority’s insistence on continuing its policy of exclusivity, and ignoring all national efforts to unite the Palestinians and unite in the face of aggression against our people, we express our rejection of the continuation of this approach, which has caused and continues to harm our people and our national cause.”

The factions called on “our people and their living forces to raise their voices loudly” and confront what they described as “tampering with the present and future of our cause and the interests of our people and their national rights.”

It also called on “all national forces and factions, especially the brothers in the Fatah movement, to take serious and effective action, in order to agree on the management of this historical and pivotal stage, in a way that serves our national cause and meets the aspirations of our people to extract their legitimate rights, liberate their land and sanctities, and establish their complete independent state.” Sovereignty with Jerusalem as its capital.”

Last February, President Abbas accepted Shtayyeh’s resignation, which he announced in a speech during a weekly meeting.

Shtayyeh submitted his resignation in light of the political, security and economic developments related to the war on the Gaza Strip and the unprecedented escalation in the West Bank.

He said, at the time, that the next stage “needs new governmental political arrangements that take into account the developments in the Gaza Strip, the national unity talks, and the urgent need to achieve a Palestinian consensus based on a national basis, broad participation, unity of ranks, and the extension of authority over the entire land of Palestine.” .

All of this comes in the wake of a devastating war in Gaza since October 7, 2023, which left massive infrastructure destruction and tens of thousands of civilian casualties, accompanied by an Israeli escalation in the West Bank, despite the entry of the month of Ramadan, and Tel Aviv’s appearance before the International Court of Justice on charges of “ “genocide” against the Palestinians.

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