From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, March 19, 2024
Incoming PA prime minister lays out plans for technocratic government, Gaza reconstruction
The incoming Palestinian Authority prime minister says that he will appoint a technocratic government and establish an independent trust fund to oversee Gaza’s reconstruction.
In a mission statement acquired by The Associated Press, Mohammad Mustafa lays out wide-ranging plans for the kind of revitalized Palestinian Authority called for by the United States as part of its postwar vision for resolving the conflict.
But the PA has no power in Gaza, from which the Hamas terror group drove its forces in 2007, and only limited authority in parts of the West Bank.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ruled out any return of the PA to Gaza and his government is staunchly opposed to Palestinian statehood.
PA President Mahmoud Abbas designated Mustafa as prime minister last week. The US-educated economist and longtime adviser to Abbas is an independent with no political base.
In the mission statement, Mustafa says he will appoint a “nonpartisan, technocratic government that can gain both the trust of our people and the support of the international community.” He promises wide-ranging reforms of PA institutions and a “zero tolerance” policy toward corruption.
He says he will seek to reunify the West Bank and Gaza, and create an “independent, competent and transparent agency for Gaza’s recovery and reconstruction and an internationally managed trust fund to raise, manage and disburse the required funds.”
The vision statement makes no mention of Hamas, which won a landslide victory the last time Palestinians held national elections, in 2006, and which polls indicate still has significant support.
The 88-year-old Abbas, who is in overall control of the PA, has remained in power since his own mandate expired in 2009 and has refused to hold elections, claiming Israeli restrictions. Polls consistently find that a large majority of Palestinians want him to resign.
Mustafa says the PA aims to hold presidential and parliamentary elections, but he does not give a timetable and says it would depend on “realities on the ground” in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
