This content was published on 15 March 2024 – 03:02
(Reuters) – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has appointed Muhammad Mustafa, his ally and prominent businessman, as prime minister to help reform the Palestinian Authority, the official Palestinian News and Information Agency (Wafa) said on Thursday.
Mustafa’s appointment comes after increasing pressure to reform and revive the authority that administers the occupied Palestinian territories and improve its governance in the West Bank, where its headquarters are located.
Abbas remains by far the most powerful figure in the Palestinian Authority, but the appointment of a new government is evidence of his willingness to meet international demands for a change in administration.
WAFA reported that the new prime minister was assigned to lead relief and reconstruction efforts in the Gaza Strip, which was devastated by the war that has been going on for more than five months, in addition to reforming the institutions of the Palestinian Authority. Mustafa had contributed to organizing the reconstruction process in Gaza after the 2014 war.
Mustafa replaces former Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh, who resigned with his government in February.
The Palestinian Authority, established three decades ago under the interim peace agreement known as the Oslo Accords, exercises limited rule over parts of the occupied West Bank.
But it may play a major role in the management of Gaza once the fighting ends, although Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has expressed strong opposition to its participation in the management of the Strip.
The Palestinian Authority, which is controlled by Abbas’s Fatah movement, has long had tense relations with Hamas, which runs Gaza, and the two factions fought a short-lived war before Fatah was expelled from the Strip in 2007.
However, the Palestinian Authority has repeatedly denounced the Israeli attack on the Gaza Strip and insists on playing a role in managing Gaza after the war.
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2024-03-15 02:02:38
