Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has appointed economist Mohammad Mustafa as new prime minister, following the resignation of the previous government on February 26, the official Wafa agency announced on Thursday.
Mr. Mustafa, 69, former chairman of the Palestine Investment Fund (PIF) and economic adviser to President Abbas, held a senior position at the World Bank in Washington for 15 years.
This international civil servant takes office in the middle of the war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
At the end of February, Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh presented the resignation of his government, arguing for the need for a new policy taking into account
"the new reality in the Gaza Strip"
and the
"urgent need for an inter-Palestinian consensus"
.
Since fratricidal clashes in June 2007, the Palestinian leadership has been divided between the Palestinian Authority of Mahmoud Abbas, which exercises limited power in the West Bank, territory occupied since 1967 by Israel, while Hamas is in power in the ravaged Gaza Strip. by war.
The “powerlessness” of President Abbas
In recent months, many Palestinians have criticized President Abbas, 88, last elected in 2005, for his
"helplessness"
in the face of Israeli raids in the Gaza Strip.
The question of the Palestinian Authority's role when the war ends remains largely unknown, due to its limited influence and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's refusal of a future Palestinian state.