Reforms are needed

Abbas appoints new Palestinian prime minister

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (left) appointed Mohammed Mustafa (right) as the new Prime Minister on Thursday.

(Bild: AFP/PPO)

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has appointed Mohammed Mustafa as the new Prime Minister as part of the reform of the Palestinian Authority (PA) desired by the USA. This was reported on Thursday by the Palestinian news agency WAFA. He succeeds Mohammed Shtayyeh, who resigned as prime minister at the end of February.

The Palestinian government is based in the West Bank. Until the Gaza war, however, the Gaza Strip was controlled by the radical Islamic Hamas. The government is under international pressure to implement reforms.

According to observers, Palestinian President Abbas wants to create a technocratic government in the West Bank by appointing Mustafa, an economist and former employee of the World Bank. It is expected that the 69-year-old will form a cabinet of people with no party affiliation.

Until then, outgoing Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh will remain in office as head of a provisional government. Shtayyeh resigned at the end of February under pressure from Arab countries and the USA. The formation of a new government could take a few weeks or months.

Israel wants neither Hamas nor PA as government in Gaza
In this scenario, Hamas could also join the Palestinian umbrella organization, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), without being represented in a future Palestinian government with its own ministers. Israel also rejects this. Jerusalem does not want to see either Hamas or a Fatah-led PA as the government in the coastal strip in future.

Abbas leads the PA as well as the secular Fatah faction within the PLO. Fatah and Hamas are the two largest Palestinian organizations - and bitter rivals. There have been reconciliation talks between the two groups for several years. Some representatives of the Fatah party had expressed understanding for Hamas' terrorist attacks in Israel.

The appointment of Mustafa as the new Prime Minister is intended to reform the PA and reunite the official institutions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, according to a letter from Abbas. The appointment was also a preparation for presidential and parliamentary elections in the Palestinian territories. Abbas has been in office for more than 18 years and is no longer legitimized by elections.