Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Resigns Amid Calls for Reform

Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at Palestinian Authority leadership changes in the West Bank, Hungary approving Sweden’s NATO bid, and Denmark dropping its Nord Stream investigation.

Political Shake-Up

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh offered his resignation on Monday amid growing international calls for reform in the Palestinian Authority (PA), which governs parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank and which the United States and others in the international community would like to see govern a postwar Gaza as well.

“The next stage and its challenges require new governmental and political arrangements that take into account the new reality in the Gaza Strip, the urgent need for an inter-Palestinian [national] consensus … and the extension of the [PA’s] authority over the entire territory of Palestine,” Shtayyeh said during a cabinet meeting in Ramallah.

Shtayyeh has been in the position since 2019 and will continue to serve in a caretaker capacity until Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, the PA’s top leader, selects a permanent replacement. Abbas is expected to choose economic advisor Mohammad Mustafa, the chair of the Palestine Investment Fund, who is thought to be a member of Abbas’s inner circle.

The leadership shake-up seems intended to send a signal that the PA is open to making changes to satisfy calls to reform that have come from the United States and others, but many are skeptical that Abbas will make the kinds of serious changes needed or loosen his grip on power. The region’s last legislative elections were held in 2006, with Abbas elected to a four-year term the year prior. With no functional parliament, Abbas rules by decree. The PA is largely seen as corrupt, and Abbas is deeply unpopular among Palestinians for working with the Israeli government to continue the West Bank’s highly unpopular status quo surrounding Israeli settlements and withheld tax payments, as well as for his and the PA’s failure to secure a Palestinian state.

Amid ongoing cease-fire talks, the United States and much of the international community have pushed for a two-state solution that would create a technocratic Palestinian government to oversee the West Bank and Gaza. The PA lost control of Gaza after Hamas came to power there in 2007, but leaders from both the militant group and the PA are due to meet in Moscow on Wednesday to discuss the war, including potential reunification.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly opposed a two-state solution and any postwar plan that gives the PA control of Gaza. After initially withdrawing Israel’s negotiators, though, Netanyahu sent a delegation to ongoing talks in Doha, Qatar, to discuss a proposed six-week truce that could potentially include the release of dozens of Israeli hostages held by Hamas. U.S., Qatari, and Egyptian officials as well as Hamas representatives were also in attendance, Egyptian state media reported on Sunday.

International pressure for ending the Israel-Hamas war reached new heights on Sunday when an active-duty U.S. Air Force service member set himself on fire outside the Israeli Embassy in Washington. Aaron Bushnell, 25, died from his injuries late Sunday. In a video of the protest posted on streaming platform Twitch, a man believed to be Bushnell says, “I will no longer be complicit in genocide,” before lighting himself on fire and shouting “Free Palestine.” U.S. officials are currently investigating the incident. No staff members at the Israeli Embassy were hurt.

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The World This Week

Tuesday, Feb. 27: Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani begins a two-day visit to France.

Finance ministers in the so-called BRICS bloc meet in Brazil.

Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala hosts his counterparts from Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary.

Israel holds municipal elections except in areas near Gaza and Lebanon.

Wednesday, Feb. 28: U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken hosts his counterparts from Mexico and Guatemala.

Caribbean Community heads of government gather in Guyana for their 46th summit.

Thursday, Feb. 29: Blinken hosts Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom.

Friday, March 1: U.S. President Joe Biden hosts Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

St. Vincent and the Grenadines holds the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States’ eighth summit.

Iran holds parliamentary and Assembly of Experts elections.

Saturday, March 2: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau hosts Meloni.

Sunday, March 3: Switzerland holds its quarterly referendum.

Monday, March 4: Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese hosts a special meeting with leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

What We’re Following

Sweden gets a green light. Hungary’s parliament ratified Sweden’s NATO bid on Monday, clearing Stockholm’s final hurdle in a monthslong bid to secure alliance membership. The vote passed with 188 lawmakers in favor and only six members against, with the ruling Fidesz party controlling much of parliament. “Sweden stands ready to shoulder its responsibility for Euro-Atlantic security,” Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Kristersson met last Friday with his Hungarian counterpart, Viktor Orban, in Budapest, where Kristersson agreed to send four Swedish-made Gripen fighter jets and open an artificial intelligence research center in Hungary. Orban previously stalled Stockholm’s accession due to criticism raised by politicians in Sweden over democratic backsliding in Budapest. He initially promised not to be the last NATO holdout, but Turkey’s ratification last month further solidified Orban’s reputation as a Western outlier.

Sweden’s official accession is expected to be finalized in the coming days once ratification documents are given to the U.S. State Department, after which NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg will invite Sweden to accede to the North Atlantic Treaty (also called the Washington Treaty), which forms the legal basis of the alliance.

Closing the Nord Stream case. Denmark closed its investigation on Monday into the September 2022 explosions of the Nord Stream pipelines. Copenhagen police said the attack appeared to be “deliberate sabotage”; however, the department added that it lacked sufficient evidence to pursue a criminal case in Denmark. Sweden dropped its own investigation into the blasts earlier this month, arguing that it no longer had jurisdiction. Stockholm handed its evidence to Germany to continue the case.

The pipelines, which carry Russian gas to Germany, ruptured in Sweden’s and Denmark’s exclusive economic zones. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov denounced Copenhagen’s decision to stop investigating as “absurd,” arguing that “on the one hand, they recognize that a deliberate sabotage took place, but on the other hand, they are not moving forward.” Both Russia and Western governments have denied involvement in the attack.

Unions take on censorship. At least two people were killed during a general strike in Guinea’s capital, Conakry, on Monday. A confederation of unions took to the streets to protest crackdowns on press freedom by the country’s ruling military junta, including the sentencing last Friday of Sékou Jamal Pendessa, the secretary-general of the Union of Press Professionals of Guinea.

In a surprise announcement last week, Guinea’s ruling military junta dissolved its transitional government without naming a reason and ordered the seizure of members’ passports. A military coup took control of Guinea in September 2021 and is expected to hold national elections by early 2025.

Odds and Ends

An Indian train conductor should maybe consider retaking driving lessons after leaving a fully loaded freight train unattended on a slope without the emergency brake on. Thanks to the basic principles of physics, the 53-wagon train quickly began rolling on its own. It traveled 43.4 miles at around 53 miles per hour in Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday, whizzing through several stations before officials managed to stop its journey five stations over from where it had started. Luckily, only gravel was aboard the runaway train, and no one was injured.