Last week, Mohammed Mustafa, an important confidant of Mahmoud Abbas, resigned from his positions as deputy prime minister and economy minister of the Palestinian Authority. The reasons for his resignation are unknown: they may be due to accusations of corruption in his handling of the stalled reconstruction of Gaza (which he oversaw) or to some internal power struggle within the PLO. In commenting on the event, Grant Rumley and Jonathan Schanzer note the media’s lack of interest in the subject:
[Mustafa’s resignation] will barely register as a story in the Middle East. . . . There is an ocean of reporting and analysis on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Vignettes of current conflict, impending conflict, looming conflict, conflict in past perspective, and even internecine conflict among politicians on the Israeli side are a dime a dozen. But there is an undeniable dearth of insight into the Palestinian political dynamic.
The impact of Mustafa’s departure is yet to be determined. Similarly, whether his exit is tied to wrongdoing or a conflict within Abbas’s shrinking inner circle is not yet known. Alternatively, his resignation could be part of a long Palestinian tradition of pseudo-resignations. (Saeb Erekat, the Palestinians’ chief negotiator on peace issues, has “resigned” three times during his tenure.) Whatever the outcome, the Palestinian leadership appears to be unraveling at a time of great uncertainty.
Read more on Foreign Policy: http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/04/01/palestine-abbas-mohammed-mustfafa-resignation/