Palestinian cabinet resigns

The Palestinian authority is gone, what next?
Probably not to bad of a situation except for that Palestinian activist freedom fighting group, Hamas.



(Reuters) - The Palestinian cabinet resigned on Monday and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad will select new ministers at the request of President Mahmoud Abbas, officials said.

The shakeup was long demanded by Fayyad and some in Abbas's Fatah faction. It followed the fall of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to a popular revolt that has set off reform calls throughout the Arab world.

"The cabinet resigned today and the formation of a new cabinet will take place as soon as possible," Ali Jarbawi, minister of planning, told Reuters.

A senior Palestinian official said Abbas plans to ask Fayyad, who has spearheaded efforts to build up Palestinian government institutions ahead of statehood, to form a new cabinet.