New Palestinian government takes office, but faces skepticism from the population – Current Affairs

The president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, is under pressure from the international community, particularly the United States, which demands “administrative reforms” that “benefit the people”.

After being named prime minister in mid-March, economist Mohammed Mustafa, 69, a former World Bank official in Washington and a close adviser to Abbas, presented an executive made up of 23 ministers with varying profiles on Thursday.

They were all sworn in one by one tonight in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank.

The government’s priority will be to work on “the reunification of institutions, including the assumption of responsibility for Gaza”, said Mustafa on Thursday, in a letter presenting his government program.

The head of government, who is also Minister of Foreign Affairs, insisted on the “reconstruction” of the Palestinian Territories, mainly the Gaza Strip, devastated by the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, a matter for which he will appoint a coordinator specific.

The Hamas movement, a rival to Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah, took power in this territory in 2007.

The war between Israel and Hamas was triggered by an unprecedented attack by the Palestinian Islamist group on Israeli soil, on October 7, 2023, which caused around 1,200 deaths and more than two hundred hostages, according to Israeli authorities.

In retaliation, Israel launched an offensive in the Gaza Strip that has already caused more than 32,000 deaths, according to Hamas.

Among other important projects, Mustafa also raised the political issue of East Jerusalem, the sector of the Holy City occupied and annexed by Israel since 1967, and promised measures to clean up public finances and reform institutions, with a specific section on the “fight against the corruption”.

Its new ministers include four women and six people from the Gaza Strip, including a former mayor of Gaza City, Majed Abou Ramadan, responsible for health care.

On the streets in and around Ramallah, the mood was somewhat skeptical.

“Changing the government will not resolve the current situation, because change will only come from abroad,” said Souleiman Nassar, 56, from the outskirts of Ramallah, speaking to the French agency AFP.

Also speaking to AFP, Youssef Odeh, a 46-year-old butcher from Ramallah, stated that he hopes this government “acts to improve the economic situation”.

“But stopping or continuing the war is not in your hands,” he concluded.