Amid a deepen­ing of a decade-long split in Palest­inian politi­csRAMALLAH, PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES: Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah on Monday offered to resign, his spokesperson said, amid efforts by president Mahmud Abbas to form a new government. Such bids are seen as part of attempts by Abbas to further isolate his political rivals Hamas amid a deepening of a decade-long split in Palestinian politics. Hamdallah has “put his government at the disposal of President Mahmud Abbas,” the prime minister’s spokesperson Yussef al-Mahmud said in a statement. Since then Abbas’s governments have maintained limited self rule in the occupied West Bank, but the split between the two has remained. Abbas was elected in 2005 for an initial four-year term but no elections have been held since then due to the Fatah-Hamas split.

Source: The Express Tribune January 28, 2019 08:37 UTC