Challenges and Controversies Surrounding the Formation of the New Palestinian Government

A report by Wissam Nasrallah, English adaptation by Nadine Sassine


After the resignation of Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh, the nineteenth and new Palestinian government will not be like its predecessors. 

The new government, led by economist Mohammed Mustafa and composed of 23 ministers, includes specialists and experts far from politics and factions. 

However, this did not prevent Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas from tightening his grip on security in the West Bank by keeping Interior Minister Ziyad Hab al-Reeh in his position, who previously headed the Palestinian Preventive Security Force in the West Bank.

What is striking about the government is that it includes eight ministers from the Gaza Strip, who are technocrats not affiliated with Hamas. Also noteworthy is the increased female representation, with four women, including Armenian Varsen Aghabekian, appointed as a State Minister for Foreign Affairs.

The formation of the new government comes in the context of Western, specifically American, efforts to restructure the Palestinian Authority to take over affairs in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the aftermath of the war. 

However, the new lineup has reignited the dispute between Fatah and Hamas, with Hamas considering the formation of the government as a unilateral and formal step devoid of substance, as it was formed without national consensus.

As with Hamas, Israel also opposes the government. According to the British newspaper The Independent, Tel Aviv, which has been talking about the day after the war in the Gaza Strip, rejects the return of the Palestinian Authority to it, unlike the US desire to revitalize and reform the Palestinian Authority, paving the way for its return to the Strip.

The US approval was met with Russian approval, which welcomed Mustafa's appointment to form the new government.

So, Hamas rejects the new government... Israel is not satisfied with the return of the Palestinian Authority to the Strip... As for the international community, it welcomes the formation. 

Will the new government be able to withstand the challenges that begin with these objections, not ending with the economic problems in the West Bank and the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip, and the challenge of reconstruction?