Will Palestinian Authority leadership reshuffle lead to sufficient reform?

Apart from forming new Cabinet, it must fight corruption and regain people’s trust

- Jonathan Eyal

LONDON Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh of the Palestinian Authority (PA) announced his resignation on Feb 26, but it may be weeks before a replacement for him is announced.

It also remains unclear whether his departure is a prelude to a proper overhaul of the PA or just a move to gain time while various Palestinian factions jostle for power.

Mr Shtayyeh's resignation was not surprising. Since the outbreak of the Gaza war in October 2023, the United States has exerted massive pressure on the PA to reform and improve its governance record if it wished to remain the chief political representative of the Palestinians when the current bloodshed stops.

Established in 1994 under international treaties to which Israel is a party, the PA is regarded as the Palestinians' de facto government. It is the body to which most Palestinian armed and political movements belong, and it pays for a network of foreign representations which function as informal embassies for Palestine around the world.

It is formally in charge of the West Bank, where it runs the local police and provides most other administrative services. In 2007, the PA lost control of Gaza to the Hamas militant organisation in a brutal fight in which many PA officials were slaughtered, often in grisly public executions.

The PA has two formal power centres: a government run by a prime minister and a president who acts as a head of state. Mr Mahmoud Abbas, the 88-year-old president, has held the position for almost two decades and remains the PA's paramount leader.

But while the PA enjoys complete international legitimacy as the legal representative of the Palestinian territory, the organisation is facing an existential crisis.

The PA is powerless to stop successive land grabs by Israeli governments.