Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian Authority. Photo: WEF.

JNS.org – Rami Hamdallah, the newly appointed Palestinian Authority (PA) prime minister, has abruptly submitted his resignation to PA President Mahmoud Abbas.

Hamdallah, who took office on June 6, resigned as a result of a dispute over his powers, Ma’an News Agency reported.

Hamdallah, who was the president of An-Najah University in Nablus, was appointed to the position following the resignation of Salam Fayyad. A political newcomer, many analysts suspected that Abbas choose Hamdallah for the position in order to maintain the ties with Western countries, which provide the PA with substantial amounts of foreign aid, that Fayyad had established.

But the PA, which is controlled by Abbas’s Fatah party, has been accused by many of corruption and mismanagement. Hamdallah, who was not a member of Fatah, may have resigned over clashes with other Fatah party leaders in his cabinet.

The PA has not held elections since 2006 due to a dispute with Hamas, which ousted the PA and Fatah from the Gaza Strip in 2007. Abbas, meanwhile, has been serving more than four years since his term as PA president expired in January 2009.