Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said Saturday night that he would resign his post as a "confidence-building" move, appeasing Hamas, which has repeatedly demanded that he quit. Fayyad has been PA Prime Minister since June 2007, when PA chief Mahmoud Abbas set up a new government in Ramallah, after Hamas won PA elections that had been held earlier. Since then, there have been two PA governments – one in Gaza, and one in Ramallah.

In a letter to Abbas, Fayyad on Saturday wrote that he hoped his resignation would encourage "dialogue" between Fatah and Hamas. "Dialogue is a precious opportunity that should be utilized to terminate the current state of disunity" between the two terror groups, he said. Fayyad added that his resignation would become effective if Hamas and Fatah could agree on establishing a new government.

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