Palestinian Authority announces a new Cabinet amid Israeli assault on Gaza
Al Jazeera
Mahmoud Abbas has announced a new interim government as calls grow for a revitalised and reformed PA.
The Palestinian Authority (PA) has announced the formation of a new Cabinet as it faces international pressure to reform.
President Mahmoud Abbas, who has led the PA for nearly two decades, announced the new government in a presidential decree on Thursday.
Abbas tapped Mohammad Mustafa, a longtime adviser, to be prime minister earlier this month. He replaced Mohammed Shtayyeh, who, along with his government, resigned in February citing the need for change amid Israel’s brutal assault on Gaza and escalating violence in the occupied West Bank.
Mustafa is a politically independent US-educated economist and has pledged to form a technocratic government and create an independent trust fund to help rebuild Gaza. Mustafa will also serve as foreign minister.
Interior Minister Ziad Hab al-Rih is a member of Abbas’s secular Fatah movement and held the same portfolio in the previous government. The Interior Ministry oversees the security forces. The incoming minister for Jerusalem affairs, Ashraf al-Awar, registered to run as a Fatah candidate in elections in 2021 that were indefinitely delayed.
