The Palestinian Authority has announced the formation of a new cabinet in an effort to meet international demands for reforms to pave the way for the day after the war in Gaza.
President Mahmoud Abbas, who has led the Palestinian Authority for nearly two decades, announced the new government by presidential decree. None of the newly appointed ministers is a recognizable figure outside of Palestine.
Abbas chose Mohammad Mustafa, a longtime adviser, as prime minister earlier this month. Mustafa, a politically independent US-educated economist, has promised to form a technocratic government and set up an independent trust fund to help rebuild Gaza. Mustafa will also be foreign minister.
Interior Minister Ziad Hab al-Rikh is a member of Abbas’s secular Fatah movement and held the same portfolio in the previous government. The Ministry of Interior supervises the security forces. The new minister for Jerusalem affairs, Ashraf al-Awar, has registered to run as Fatah’s candidate in the 2021 elections, which have been postponed indefinitely.
At least five of the 23 newly appointed ministers are from Gaza, but it was not immediately clear whether they are still in the region.
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