By MOHAMMED MAR’I | ARAB NEWS

Published: Jul 28, 2010 22:02 Updated: Jul 28, 2010 22:02

RAMALLAH: A senior Fatah official on Wednesday said that a new Palestinian government would be formed next week.

Azzam Al-Ahmed, a member of Fatah’s Central Committee and head of its parliamentary bloc, said in a press statement: “The current government (of the Prime Minister Salam Fayyad) will resign and a new government will be formed.”

Al-Ahmed added that the new government would represent the “aspirations of Fatah movement.”

The Fatah official said: “President Mahmoud Abbas will hold consultations with representatives of Palestinian faction, parliamentary blocs and independent figures on the formation of the new government.”

He added: “The current prime minister (Fayyad) or a new prime minister will be tasked by Abbas to form the new government.”

Al-Ahmed also added that regardless of who becomes prime minister or what the composition of the new government will be, it will “remain affiliated to Fatah” and “strictly follow Fatah party policies.”

Fatah increased its pressure on Abbas to reform the current government after it held it sixth general convention in August.

According to Al-Ahmed: “The new government will be formed in a way that will give the movement (Fatah) more sovereign roles.”

Abbas formed the West Bank-based government in 2007 after the rival Hamas movement routed his security forces in Gaza.

Fayyad, a former World Bank economist who has a very small political power base in Palestinian territories, assigned most of his portfolios to technocrats and independents. In May 2009, Fayyad reshuffled his Cabinet and tasked several top Fatah officials with heading ministries.

Hamas, which won the parliamentary elections in 2006, said it doesn’t recognize Fayyad’s reshuffled government.

Since then, top Fatah officials expressed their dissatisfaction from Fayyad’s government saying it usurped the movement role in the Palestinian territories. They also accused Fayyad’s government of controlling the financial resources of the movement.

Al-Ahmed said: “Fatah’s role was not clear in the Fayyad’s government.”

The official also said that Fatah voters want to see a leading role of their movement in the government.

Fayyad, who is pressing ahead with an ambitious program to build the institutions of the Palestinian state which he expects to complete in 2011, would not mind Fatah taking any post except the Finance Ministry, which he holds and which is off-limits

A recent Palestinian poll found that 43.7 percent of the respondents said security and safety improved under Fayyad’s government.

The poll, published by the Jerusalem Media and Communications Center (JMCC), found that 31.7 percent of the respondents said they did not notice any change, and 19.6 percent said security and safety has deteriorated. ¬