Ramallah: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Salam Fayyad on Saturday, the official Palestinian news agency said.
Fayyad had offered his resignation in a letter to Abbas following weeks of sparring over Fayyad's handling of the government and an economic crisis afflicting the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
"The president told Dr Salam Fayyad he accepted his resignation, and asked him to conduct the work of the government until a new government is formed," official news agency WAFA said.
Western diplomats had expressed dismay at the latest turmoil within the Palestinian Authority at a time when the United States is making a concerted effort to revive defunct Middle East peace negotiations and boost the local economy....
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06:41 AM, Apr 14, 2013
Ramallah: Palestinian officials say Palestinian Prime Minister Salaam Fayyad has resigned. Fayyad offered his resignation on Thursday, and was waiting for President Mahmoud Abbas' reply. Officials said Fayyad submitted his resignation to Abbas in person on Saturday, and Abbas accepted it. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the official announcement has not yet been made. ...
11:19 PM, Apr 13, 2013
Insisting "peace is possible," President Barack Obama on Thursday prodded both Israelis and Palestinians to return to long-stalled negotiations with few, if any, pre-conditions, softening his earlier demands that Israel stop building settlements in disputed territory. ...
05:38 AM, Mar 22, 2013
US President Barack Obama faces a stony reception when he travels to the West Bank on Thursday for talks with Palestinian leaders who accuse him of letting Israel ride rough-shod over their dream of statehood. ...
07:05 AM, Mar 21, 2013
The Fatah party of Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas staged a massive rally on January 4 in the Gaza Strip, the first such gathering in the territory since the Islamist Hamas group took control there in 2007 and a reflection of the warming ties between the two rival factions. Throngs camped out overnight in a downtown Gaza square to ensure themselves a spot for the anniversary commemoration of Fatah's 1959...
06:04 PM, Jan 04, 2013
Ramallah: Former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat died after consuming an unknown poison, a Jordanian doctor claimed on Thursday. Arafat's medical reports suggest that he was poisoned by a toxic substance, but it was not examined at that time, Xinhua quoted Abdullah al-Basheer as saying. Al-Basheer, who launched an inquiry into the case, was speaking to reporters in West Bank. Mahmoud Abbas, Arafat's successor, ordered a probe after al-Jazeera TV concluded...
10:47 AM, Jul 13, 2012
Ramallah: Israel has stripped Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of VIP status and given him a watered-down travel permit that is valid for just two months, Palestinian officials charged on Sunday. The officials said that Abbas complained about the permit at an internal meeting of his Fatah Party last week. In a speech, Abbas said the new permit, similar to those required for Palestinian labourers entering Israel, was a reflection of...
10:24 AM, Jan 16, 2012
Paris: Palestinians raised their flag at the headquarters of the UN cultural agency in Paris on Tuesday as the agency's 195th member, a historic move and symbolic boost for their push for an independent state. Cheers rose as the red, black, white and green flag went up in pouring rain under the gaze of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova. She welcomed Palestine without mentioning the US...
01:07 AM, Dec 14, 2011
United Nations: The UN Security Council's admissions committee on Friday forwarded to the 15-nation body its report on the Palestinian request for full UN membership, the council president told. "We held a meeting of the committee on admissions and the committee approved the report and forwarded it to the Security Council the report on the admission of Palestine to the United Nations," said Portugal's UN Ambassador Jone Filipe Moraes Cabral,...
03:07 AM, Nov 12, 2011
Paris: The United Nations' cultural agency granted the Palestinians full membership on Monday, a step forward in their long-running efforts to achieve recognition before the world as an independent state. The United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) became the first UN agency to welcome the Palestinians as a full member since President Mahmoud Abbas applied for full membership of the United Nations on September 23. A huge cheer...
11:40 PM, Oct 31, 2011
United Nations: Mahmoud Abbas' bold bid for UN recognition of Palestinian statehood is doomed to fail but has won him admiration at home and re-energised international efforts to seek a negotiated settlement. Thousands of jubilant, flag-waving Palestinians watching on outdoor screens across the West Bank, cheered on their president on Friday as he submitted his historic request for a UN nod. In Nablus, the crowd roared ecstatically when Abbas, known...
12:50 PM, Sep 24, 2011
United Nations: Defying US and Israeli opposition, Palestinians asked the United Nations on Friday to accept them as a member state, sidestepping nearly two decades of troubled negotiations in the hope this dramatic move on the world stage would re-energize their quest for an independent homeland. In the West Bank, the core of that hoped-for state, a Palestinian man was shot dead in a clash with Israeli soldiers and settlers...
09:36 PM, Sep 23, 2011
United Nations: Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas will make his speech at the UN General Assembly demanding for recognition of Palestine as a member state. The Indian Prime Minister is also likely to support that demand, while the US President has suggested that the proposal should be vetoed upon. The threat of a US veto hangs like the sword of Damocles over his head, but Abbas is determined that the United...
08:39 AM, Sep 23, 2011
Jerusalem: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has offered to meet Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas one-on-one every two weeks to discuss "the agenda for a peace agreement," he said on Sunday. "I believe that what is needed now in order to move the process is not multiplicity of [negotiation] teams but rather decisions of leaders," he said at the start of Israel's weekly Cabinet meeting. The two sides resumed face-to-face negotiations...
11:30 AM, Sep 06, 2010
Gilani made the remark during his meeting with Palestinian President. ...
10:35 AM, Feb 13, 2010
In retaliation Israel fired missile at car in Rafah town, killing a Hamas militant. ...
12:04 PM, Feb 04, 2009
Palestine's Mahmoud Abbas swore in an emergency Cabinet as the Fatah-Hamas battle intensified. ...
08:32 PM, Jun 17, 2007
A Palestinian government of National Unity is expected to be announced in the coming days. ...
12:26 PM, Mar 12, 2007
Palestinian PM on Sunday rejected President Mahmoud Abbas's decision to hold early presidential and legislative elections in Palestine. ...
10:39 PM, Dec 17, 2006
