The President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, approved on Thursday the composition of the government presented by his new Prime Minister, Mohammed Mustafa, by an official decree. The 19th Palestinian government will be sworn in before Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday, according to the official
Wafa
agency . This renewal comes as the international community is pressing the president to undertake institutional reforms, in particular to prepare for the post-war in the Gaza Strip, triggered by a bloody attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas on Israeli soil.
The government's priority will be to work to
“reunify the institutions, including by assuming responsibility for Gaza
,” Mohammed Mustafa said Thursday in a letter to the presidency, outlining his roadmap. He insists on the
“reconstruction”
of the Palestinian Territories, mainly the Gaza Strip, specifying that he will appoint a coordinator dedicated to the coastal territory. He also discusses the political issue of East Jerusalem, part of the city occupied and annexed by Israel since 1967.
“Administrative reforms”
Among other priority projects, the Palestinian Prime Minister announces reforms for the consolidation of public finances and institutional reforms, including a specific component on the
“fight against corruption”
. This government has 23 ministers, including three women and six people from the Gaza Strip, including a former mayor of Gaza City, Majed Abou Ramadan.
The credibility of the Palestinian Authority has been largely damaged in Palestinian opinion by several corruption cases and the authoritarian drift of its president, aged 88, last elected in 2005. During an interview in January in Ramallah, where the Palestinian Authority is based in the occupied West Bank, American Secretary of State Antony Blinken had asked him to initiate
“administrative reforms”
likely to
“benefit the Palestinian people”
.