As of: March 18, 2024, 9:55 p.m
By: Laura May
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Following US pressure for reform, Palestinian President Abbas has appointed a new prime minister - to the displeasure of his own people.
Ramallah – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has turned several groups against him by appointing a new prime minister.
On Thursday (March 14) he appointed his long-time adviser Mohammed Mustafa as the new prime minister.
The personnel decision for the economist with a degree from George Washington University in New York drives a further wedge between Abbas' Fatah party and the terrorist organization Hamas, which dominates the Gaza Strip.
But it's not just the Islamists who are dissatisfied with Abbas' decision, communists and social democrats are also criticizing the move.
Palestinian President Abbas appoints Mohammed Mustafa as prime minister.
(Archive photo) © IMAGO/Palestinian President Office
War in Israel: Hamas sees rule in Gaza threatened by the Palestinian Authority
The previous Fatah Prime Minister Mohammed Shtajjeh resigned around three weeks ago with the entire Palestinian government based in the West Bank - according to information from Die
Zeit
in order to clear the way for reform of the autonomous authority.
Hamas sees this development as a threat to its dominance in the Gaza Strip, where it took sole control in 2007.
But it's not just Hamas that is critical of Mustafa's appointment.
The Islamic Jihad, the Marxist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Palestinian National Initiative also criticized the personnel decision, according to the
AFP
.
The four groups said forming a new government without “national consensus” would “reinforce exclusionary politics and deepen divisions.”
There is already a “huge gap” between the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian population.
Fatah also responded with criticism and blamed Hamas and the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel for the “return of the Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip.”
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The USA and Biden have concrete ideas for Gaza after the war
According to the Israeli daily
Haaretz,
the four organizations declared the timing of the decision to be particularly dangerous.
The division is particularly condemnable at a sensitive time and at “a historic crossroads where Palestinians need unity and a unified national government that will promote the reconstruction of the Palestinian arena and pave the way for elections.”
Abbas' appointment of the new prime minister was also a response to the desired reform of the Palestinian Authority.
The USA and President Joe Biden have a concrete idea of how the Gaza Strip should be organized after the war in Israel: Hamas should disappear and the Palestinian Authority (PA) should take control again.
A peaceful two-state solution remains the goal, but Benajmin Netanyahu's Israel rejects a Fatah government in Gaza.
(Laura May)