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RAMALLAH (Reuters) – Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Moustafa announced on Thursday the formation of his government, where he will also serve as foreign minister, stressing that his priority was the implementation of a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the withdrawal of the Israeli army from the enclave.
Appointed in early March by the President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, this 69-year-old economist, who headed the Palestine Investment Fund, was entrusted with the mission of reforming the Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited prerogatives in the occupied West Bank.
Mohammad Moustafa, who will replace Riyad al-Maliki at Foreign Affairs, a position he has held since 2009, will also be responsible for leading humanitarian aid and reconstruction operations for the Gaza Strip, devastated by more than five months of war.
Ziad Hab al Rih, former head of the Palestinian Authority’s domestic intelligence services, remains as interior minister. The new government will also have a Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs.
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In a statement addressed to Mahmoud Abbas, the new Palestinian Prime Minister set as his first priority to obtain an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and the complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from the enclave, as well as the transport large quantity and throughout the territory of humanitarian aid, reported the Palestinian news agency Wafa.
He also expressed his desire to put an end to colonization and “settler terrorism in the West Bank”.
Controlled by Fatah, the Palestinian Authority claims, with the support of the West, a role in the post-war in Gaza, although it has been led by Hamas since a brief armed conflict between the two factions in the enclave in 2007.
(Ali Sawfta, written by Nayera Abdallah, version Jean-Stéphane Brosse, edited by Sophie Louet)
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