PNA towards a new government, who are the ministers and what the program will be

The Prime Minister ofPalestinian National Authority (PNA), Mohammad Mustafaannounced the formation of the new government and presented the executive program to the president Mahmoud Abbas. This was reported by the Palestinian news agency “Wafa”, according to which Mustafa will also lead the Foreign Ministry. Mustafa, 69, takes the place of former prime minister Mohammed Shtayyeh, who resigned last February, in the midst of US pressure to reform the PA in conjunction with the outbreak of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas. Mustafa was chairman of the board of directors of the Palestinian Investment Fund, senior economic advisor to President Mahmoud Abbas and a member of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). Furthermore, after earning a doctorate in economics from George Washington University, he worked for 15 years at the World Bank. His previous roles include that of deputy prime minister and minister of the economy.

The new government team will be composed of 23 ministers, led by Mohammad Mustafa as Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates; Shurahbil al ZaeemMinister of Justice; Ziad Hab al ReehInterior Minister; Omar al BittarMinister of Finance; Wael ZaqqoutMinister of Planning and International Cooperation; Sami HajjawiMinister of Local Government; Majid Abu RamadanMinister of Health; Amjad Barham, Minister of Education and Higher Education; Enas Dahadha, Minister of Labour; Mohammad Mustafa Najem – Minister of Religious Affairs; Arafat Asfour, Minister of Industry; Mohammad at AmourMinister of National Economy; Abdel Razzaq NatshehMinister of Communications and Digital Economy; Ahed Bseiso, Minister of Public Works and Housing; Samah Hamad, Minister of Social Development; Rizk Sulaimiyya, Minister of Agriculture; Hani al HayekMinister of Tourism and Antiquities; Ashrafal AwarMinister of Jerusalem Affairs; Emad al Din HamdanMinister of Culture; Tareq ZarabMinister of Transport and Communications; Mona al KhaliliMinister of Women’s Affairs; Varsen AghabekianMinister of State for Foreign Affairs and Expatriates; Basil at KafarnaMinister of State for Relief Affairs.

At least five of the appointed ministers are from the Gaza Strip, according to the Qatari-owned pan-Arab broadcaster “Al Jazeera”, although it is not clear whether they are currently located in the Palestinian exclave. Interior Minister Ziad Hab al Rih is a member of the secular Fatah movement led by PNA President Abbas and held the same position in the previous government. The Minister for Jerusalem Affairs, Ashraf al Awar, is also part of the same movement and had registered with Fatah for the elections scheduled for 2021, which were then indefinitely postponed. The new executive will be sworn in next Sunday in front of PNA president Abbas.

The new government’s program will give priority to the situation in the Gaza Strip, in particular by developing a plan to allow greater entry of humanitarian aid. But the executive led by Mustafa will also have to revive the West Bank economy, further damaged by the ongoing conflict. About 200,000 workers have lost their jobs in Israel and the productivity of about 85 percent of economic and commercial establishments has decreased, according to the Emirati newspaper “The National”. “Private sector losses in the first four months of the war in the West Bank and Gaza were approximately $2.3 billion, at a rate of $19 million a day,” Mustafa himself declared, adding: “The obligations and The government’s general debts amount to approximately $7 billion.” But the most difficult undertaking for the new executive will be to try to regain the trust of the majority of Palestinians, who consider the PNA a corrupt and inefficient institution and accuse it of being too collaborative towards Israel. The suspension of elections for more than 18 years has helped erode the legitimacy of the body and its 88-year-old leader Mahmoud Abbas, whose resignation most Palestinians want.

Related posts