Palestinian president accepts PM Fayyad's resignation

        
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Salam Fayyad on Saturday, a Palestinian official and the Palestinian news agency said.    

"Abbas agreed to accept Fayyad's resignation," the Palestinian official said. News agency Wafa said Abbas had asked Fayyad to stay on as caretaker until a new government was formed.    

Sources told Reuters on Fayyad had offered his resignation to Abbas on Wednesday following a rift between the two men over government policy.           

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was supposed to meet with  Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad in a bid to settle their discrepancies but the meeting was deferred indefinitely, official sources in Ramallah reported on Saturday.             

Palestinian sources also reported that the meeting that was slated for Thursday, during which Fayyad was set to present his resignation for the President, was deferred as Washington ruled out the resignation of the US-backed Prime Minister.           

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad offered his resignation to President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday following a rift between the two men over government policy, two sources told Reuters.           

Long-strained relations between the 61-year-old Fayyad and Abbas worsened last month when the prime minister accepted the resignation of his finance minister, against the wishes of the president.              


REUTERS/LBCI