![PA President Abbas and PM Fayyad [file]](https://images.jpost.com/image/upload/f_auto,fl_lossy/t_Article2016_Control/193301 "PA President Abbas and PM Fayyad 370 (R) Photo By: Fadi Arouri / Reuters")
PA President Abbas and PM Fayyad 370 (R).
(photo credit: Fadi Arouri / Reuters)
A meeting between Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and
President Mahmoud Abbas, which was supposed to take place late Thursday
night, was postponed indefinitely, Ma'an News Agency reported on Friday
morning.
There had been speculation that Fayyad was on the verge
of handing in his resignation following on-going disputes between him
and Abbas over differences of opinion in governmental policy.
A
US official who attempted to scrub the resignation rumors was reported
as saying, "he's not tendering his resignation to the best of my
knowledge."
A long standing dislike between the two erupted
recently when Fayyad accepted the resignation of PA Finance Minister
Nabil Qassis.
Qassis is backed by Abbas, who immediately asked him
to reverse his decision and accused Fayyad of illegally accepting
Qassis' resignation.
Though Abbas would love to be rid of Fayyad
who has been a thorn in his side, Fayyad enjoys vast western political
support which could be a reason behind the delayed meeting.
A
senior western diplomat said, "Fayyad's departure would have a serious
impact on relations with the international community...it is hard to
overstate how important Fayyad has been," Reuters reported.
Khaled Abu Tomeh contributed to this report.