President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority appointed a longtime insider throughout the authority’s prime ranks as prime minister on Thursday, rejecting worldwide strain to empower an impartial prime minister who may revitalize the sclerotic authority.
Mr. Abbas, who’s 88 and has lengthy dominated by decree, named Muhammad Mustafa, an in depth financial adviser, to take the prime minister’s spot, signing a doc charging him with placing collectively a brand new authorities, in line with Wafa, the Palestinian Authority’s official news company. Mr. Mustafa has three weeks to take action, however can take a further two weeks if wanted, in line with Palestinian regulation.
The doc Mr. Abbas handed to Mr. Mustafa mentioned the priorities of the federal government ought to embrace main efforts to offer humanitarian help to folks in Gaza, reconstructing what has been destroyed throughout the conflict between Israel and Hamas, and placing forth plans and mechanisms to reunite Palestinian governing buildings within the West Bank and the coastal enclave.
It additionally referred to as for “continuing the reform process.”
Much of the Palestinian public sees the Palestinian Authority as tainted by corruption, mismanagement and cooperation with Israel.
As president, Mr. Abbas stays firmly accountable for the federal government. With no useful parliament, Mr. Abbas has lengthy dominated by decree, and he exerts large affect over the judiciary and prosecution system. There has been no presidential election within the Palestinian territories since 2005, and no legislative election since 2006.
In late February, Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh tendered the resignation of his cupboard, citing the necessity for a brand new authorities that “takes into account the emerging reality in the Gaza Strip.” Mr. Shtayyeh’s authorities has continued in a caretaker capability.
Hamas led a lethal assault from Gaza into Israel on Oct. 7, and Israel has answered with intense bombardment and an invasion, vowing to interrupt the group’s grip on the enclave. But these occasions have raised tough questions on how a postwar Gaza will probably be ruled and rebuilt.
The Palestinian Authority has restricted governing powers on the West Bank. It misplaced management of Gaza to Hamas in a 2007 energy battle.
The United States has been calling for overhauling the broadly unpopular Palestinian Authority in latest months, hoping it may ultimately assume the reins of governance in Gaza after the conflict. The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, nonetheless, has rejected any such function for the authority.
While the Biden administration didn’t inform Mr. Abbas whom to nominate as prime minister, it conveyed that it hoped for an impartial determine who was acceptable to abnormal Palestinians, the worldwide neighborhood and Israel, in line with Western diplomats, who spoke on the situation of anonymity as a result of they weren’t approved to talk with the media.
A spokeswoman for the National Security Council, Adrienne Watson, mentioned in a press release that the Biden administration welcomed the appointment and urged “the formation of a reform cabinet as soon as possible.”
In the Palestinian Authority, the prime minister is meant to supervise the work of ministries, however Mr. Abbas typically intervenes in decision-making, in line with analysts.
Nasser al-Qudwa, a former overseas minister whose identify was floated as a potential prime minister, mentioned earlier than the announcement of Mr. Abbas’s selection that appointing Mr. Mustafa would characterize “no real change.”
“It would be replacing one employee named Mohammed with another employee named Muhammad, while Abbas continues to hold all the cards. What’s the change?” mentioned Mr. Qudwa, a fierce opponent of Mr. Abbas, who’s often known as Abu Mazen. “Abu Mazen wants to keep the status quo. He wants to keep all of the power in his hands.”
In addition to serving as Mr. Abbas’s adviser, Mr. Mustafa, an economist educated at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., has been the chairman of the Palestine Investment Fund, whose board is appointed by the president of the authority. He has beforehand been the authority’s financial system minister and deputy prime minister.
For weeks, Mr. Abbas has signaled his want to nominate Mr. Mustafa. In January, he despatched Mr. Mustafa to the World Economic Forum’s annual convention in Davos, the place heads of state and overseas ministers collect to debate world affairs.
At the convention, Mr. Mustafa mentioned he thought the Palestinian Authority may enhance its governance. “We don’t want to give any excuses for anyone,” he mentioned in a wide-ranging dialogue with Borge Brende, the discussion board’s president. “The Palestinian Authority can do better in terms of building better institutions.”
In his new place, Mr. Mustafa will doubtless face monumental challenges, which can embrace making an attempt to reconstruct the devastated Gaza Strip and enhancing the credibility of the federal government.
Some analysts, nonetheless, mentioned judgment on a brand new authorities ought to be reserved till the general public learns the identities of its ministers, and the way a lot authority and independence they will wield.
“We shouldn’t rush to say it will fail,” Ibrahim Dalalsha, the director of the Horizon Center for Political Studies and Media Outreach, a political evaluation group based mostly in Ramallah, West Bank. “We need to wait and see how it will perform.”
Source: www.nytimes.com