Following political pressure from the West, PA president, prime minister delay meeting discussing latter's resignation.
By JPOST.COM STAFFPA President Abbas and PM Fayyad 370 (R)(photo credit: Fadi Arouri / Reuters)
A meeting between Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and President Mahmoud Abbas, which was supposed to take place late Thursday night, was postponed indefinitely, Ma'an News Agency reported on Friday morning.There had been speculation that Fayyad was on the verge of handing in his resignation following on-going disputes between him and Abbas over differences of opinion in governmental policy.A US official who attempted to scrub the resignation rumors was reported as saying, "he's not tendering his resignation to the best of my knowledge."A long standing dislike between the two erupted recently when Fayyad accepted the resignation of PA Finance Minister Nabil Qassis.Qassis is backed by Abbas, who immediately asked him to reverse his decision and accused Fayyad of illegally accepting Qassis' resignation.Though Abbas would love to be rid of Fayyad who has been a thorn in his side, Fayyad enjoys vast western political support which could be a reason behind the delayed meeting.A senior western diplomat said, "Fayyad's departure would have a serious impact on relations with the international community...it is hard to overstate how important Fayyad has been," Reuters reported.Khaled Abu Tomeh contributed to this report.
