International community calls for reforms in Palestine to form new cabinet

The Palestinian Authority (PA) has announced the formation of a new cabinet as it faces international pressure for reform.

President Mahmoud Abbas, who has led the Palestinian Authority for nearly two decades and still retains full control of power, announced the formation of the new government in a presidential decree on Thursday (local time). None of the incoming ministers are well-known figures.

Abbas appointed long-time adviser Mohammad Mustafa as prime minister earlier this month. Mustafa, a U.S.-educated economist and politically independent, has vowed to form a technocratic government and establish 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 position in the previous government. The Ministry of Interior oversees the security forces.

Incoming Jerusalem Affairs Minister Ashraf al-Awar registered as a Fatah candidate to run in the 2021 elections, but the elections were postponed indefinitely.

At least five of the 23 new ministers are from Gaza, but it is unclear whether they are still in the territory.

The Palestinian Authority administers parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. After Hamas seized power in 2007, its forces were expelled from Gaza, so the group has no power there.

It has little popular support or legitimacy among Palestinians, in part because it has not held an election in 18 years. Its policy of cooperating with Israel on security matters is deeply unpopular, leading many Palestinians to view it as a subcontractor of the occupation.

Opinion polls in recent years have consistently found that a clear majority of Palestinians want the 88-year-old Abbas to resign.

The United States has called for a reinvigorated Palestinian Authority to govern post-war Gaza ahead of eventual statehood.

Israel has rejected the idea, saying it will maintain open security control of Gaza and work with Palestinians not affiliated with the Palestinian Authority or Hamas. It is unclear who in Gaza would be willing to take on such a role.

White House national security spokesman John Kirby said it was too early to make any broad assessment of the new Cabinet and whether it would deliver the “credible and far-reaching reforms” the Biden administration has called for.

Hamas denies that the formation of the new government is illegal and instead calls on all Palestinian factions, including Fatah, to form a power-sharing government before national elections.

It warned Palestinians in Gaza not to cooperate with Israel in administering the territory, saying anyone who did so would be considered a collaborator, which was interpreted as a death threat.