PM: FATE OF GOVERNMENT TO BE DECIDED ON MONDAY

Ramallah, 5 Ramadan 1436/22 June 2015 (MINA) – A Parliament Council was held on Thursday in a special session chaired by Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah which reviewed the results of the PM’s meeting with President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday.

The Council discussed the future of the national unity government, with the PM stressing that the government was committed to reconciliation and the tasks entrusted to it in accordance with the wishes of the President.

He confirmed that since its first day, the government’s success in completing tasks has depended on a national effort from all forces and factions of Palestinian society to overcome the difficulties and challenges, Palestine News Network quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

The Prime Minister emphasized the magnitude of the challenges faced by the government since its formation as a step towards ending divisions, restoring national unity and achieving national reconciliation after years of a poisonous division which had added to the suffering of the people in the Gaza Strip.

The Council stressed that the failure to enable the government to perform its functions in Gaza, including the lack of border control and obstacles facing government initiatives to find solutions to the division, was not in line with the aspirations of the Palestinian people to reduce the effects of the split and restore national unity.

Hamdallah pointed out that he had not yet presented his resignation to Abbas in writing and that in light of the Exectutive Committee of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) chaired by Abbas, and with his own participation, to be held on Monday, he would listen to the views of various parties and consult on the matter with all concerned.

The committee on Monday will discuss the fate of the current government: a cabinet reshuffle, the formation of a new government of national unity, or the formation of a mixed government which would include representatives of allPalestinian factions as well as some independents.

The Prime Minister emphasized that the current government is committed to the decisions of the Palestinian leadership and that it will continue to perform its functions until an appropriate solution is found to the current political and economic issues.

The Council reiterated its good wishes to the Palestinian people and the Arab-Islamic world on the first day of Ramadan, saying that it hoped that national unity could be achieved throughout the holy month. It expressed its wish for the consolidation of Palestinian state institutions, the end of the occupation, national independence, the establishment of an independent Palestinian state along the 1967 borders with its capital in Jerusalem, the resolution of the refugee issue and the liberation of all Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.(T/R05/R03)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)