President Mahmoud Abbas accepted the resignation of his newly appointed prime minister on Sunday, a spokesman said, leaving his Palestinian Authority in disarray at a time when he is focusing on a U.S. push to restart peace negotiations with Israel.
Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah had served only two weeks when he abruptly resigned last week over a conflict of authority with his deputies. Mr. Abbas initially asked him to reconsider, but ultimately accepted the resignation and asked Mr. Hamdallah to stay on as head of a caretaker government until a replacement is found, Mr. Abbas aide Nabil Abu Rdeneh told The Associated Press.
Such a caretaker government could remain in place for weeks. There was no sign of a likely candidate to succeed Mr. Hamdallah.