The future Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority is independent
The ideal successor to the resigned Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority will be an independent candidate, more a skilled and expert individual than an old and weary politician.
Mohammad Shtayyeh, the Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority since 2019, announced in a brief message on Monday, ‘I have submitted the government’s resignation to the President.’ This is more than just a change in the executive branch of a national entity that has never been born; this event could be the first step for the future government of Palestine.
But certainly, this is the first action the day after the war, including the political diplomatic choices that must be made with the end of the war in Gaza, as well as providing security to Israel and a vision and outlook for the future to the Palestinians. The decision to resign the Prime Minister and the entire government with weak achievements was what the United States and Europeans wanted to renew the face of the Ramallah government in the West Bank, an autonomous entity that, in the eyes of the international community, should replace Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
But the war in Gaza has not yet ended, and the day after the war is still far off, and predicting it is like doing calculations and deals without considering Israel. Negotiators are striving to reach a ceasefire agreement for the release of Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails.
But Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly stated that an attack on Rafah will be carried out, and when everything is over, still no one knows when and how Gaza will remain under his control. These are plans that contradict the wishes of the United States and confirm the existence of inconsistency and conflict between the Israeli Prime Minister and Joe Biden, the President of the United States.
But it’s not just Netanyahu and his extreme religious nationalist government that oppose an independent Palestinian state; the vast majority of Israeli public opinion does not accept this idea. There is still war, and the memory of the October 7 massacre in the operation known as the Al-Aqsa Storm is still very vivid and clear in the public mind of Israeli society. The country’s civil society, even moderates and those who once sought peace, are participating in this national mobilization.
This is a major problem and obstacle for those currently planning for the future. Americans, Europeans, and moderate Arabs are moving between the pessimism and hostility of the two nations involved in the conflict and are somehow stuck, assuming that they might even completely ignore each other or even hate each other more than before. The majority of Israelis and Palestinians do not believe that peace can be compromised over conflicting ideas.
The first question is who will replace Mohammad Shtayyeh and his government in Ramallah. There is also the issue of Mahmoud Abbas, Abu Mazen, who was elected as President in 2005 without any subsequent elections to confirm him. At 88 years old and with a history of decision-making paralysis, his succession will be a key step in renewing Palestinian power, but now is not the time to organize elections, neither in Palestine nor in Israel.
In any case, he is not an efficient governance model, and achieving a suitable and effective governance model without freedom will be difficult. The Israeli occupying regime has never helped the Palestinian Authority, which, unlike Hamas, has recognized Israel’s existence for about 30 years.
The ideal and suitable successor to Mohammad Shtayyeh will be an independent candidate, a skilled and expert individual, not a weary old-generation politician. A candidate with the profile of Salam Fayyad, who, after working at the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, was Prime Minister from 2007 to 2013. That period was not a time for peace negotiations or cooperation with Israel, but Fayyad, while waiting for better days, decided to create the necessary structures and institutions for the future government. The independence of the monetary authority increased, and the hypothesis of Palestinian currency was born. Jihad Al-Wazir, head of the monetary organization at that time, said no country will ever be independent without its currency.
