The government of Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah submitted, on Tuesday, its resignation to President Mahmoud Abbas.
The Palestinian Cabinet said, in a statement, following its weekly meeting in the central occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, that the government “will continue to serve our people wherever they are and shoulder all its responsibilities until a new government is formed.”
Prime Minister Hamdallah “expressed his appreciation and the appreciation to his cabinet members for the confidence and support of the President and the Palestinian leadership for the government during the period of its work.”
“The Prime Minister wished success for the consultations to form a new government as soon as possible, stressing that the success of any government in carrying out the tasks entrusted to it, demands the trust of the Palestinian people in their government and the sincere support of the national forces and factions and all components of Palestinian society in order for it to overcome the difficulties and face the challenges with a strong national will and achieve the aspiration of our people in ending the division, achieve national reconciliation, strengthen the foundation of the institutions of the State of Palestine, achieve our legitimate national rights in ending the occupation, attain our national independence and establish our independent and fully sovereignty Palestinian state on the 1967 borders in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and Jerusalem as its capital.”
Hamdallah, 60, first assumed the premiership on July 6, 2013; his government underwent two changes until it was affirmed as National Consensus Government on June 2, 2014 with a mission to end the division and achieve reconciliation.
The decision comes as the Palestinian people had been protesting the government’s recent Social Security Law for months, in rejection of several articles of the law, Ma’an News Agency reports.
The Palestinian President had issued a decision by law, on Monday evening, immediately stopping the implementation of the Social Security Law and its amendments.
The decision called for continuation of the dialogue between all concerned parties in order to reach national consensus on the provisions of the law and the time for its implementation.
