RAMALLAH, June 21, 2011 (WAFA) - Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said Tuesday that one of the requirements to ask the United Nations in September for recognition of a sovereign Palestinian state is to have the
He told reporters and columnists in his office in Ramallah that the September goal should isolate
Palestinian strategy for September “is to put
He said if he was asked to form the new unity government, he was ready to do so, but if not, “I will not be an obstacle in its way.”
Fayyad said that since President Mahmoud Abbas had announced on Monday in an interview on a Lebanese television station that he wants Fayyad to form the new government, he has no choice but to respect his decision.
He said he was “proud” of the support he got from officials and the public for his candidacy as prime minister.
“The official and public reaction made me proud,” he said. “I was pleased by it because I saw in it an approval of an approach and a strategy for the next stage.”
He said that until the new government is formed, he will continue to do his work as prime minister of the current government, stressing that “there is a position that cannot be left empty. I am sitting here until someone comes and takes my place.”
Fayyad strongly denounced a call for a two day strike by the union representing public employees to protest his financial policies. He deemed the strike, called for Wednesday and Thursday, as “illegal,” and said he gave instruction to all official institutions to treat anyone who does not show up for work as absent without permission.
He defended his financial policy, saying that the Palestinian Authority faces serious financial problems caused by failure of the donor countries to provide the necessary funds for PA projects on time.
He said that the PA has a deficit of over $500 million accumulated over the past nine months and without the international funds, the government will not be able to meet all its financial obligations.
He said out of $485 million the PA was supposed to receive in the first six months of this year, it got only $285 million, which means the PA is short of $200 million so far. If this will continue, he said, then the deficit will reach $2 billion by the end of the year.
He said he was able to meet all financial obligations in the past because the donors have kept up their regular payments. However, as of last year and this year, the donors have not paid their dues regularly causing some serious financial set backs, which at times prevented the PA from paying salaries on time.
