Analysis

Palestinian media releases list of new ministers

Abbas allies shown holding key roles in unity government

By Avi Issacharoff
  • Avi Issacharoff, The Times of Israel's Middle East analyst, fills the same role for Walla, the leading portal in Israel. He is also a guest commentator on many different radio shows and current affairs programs on television. Until 2012, he was a reporter and commentator on Arab affairs for the Haaretz newspaper. He also lectures on modern Palestinian history at Tel Aviv University, and is currently writing a script for an action-drama series for the Israeli satellite Television "YES." Born in Jerusalem, he graduated cum laude from Ben Gurion University with a B.A. in Middle Eastern studies and then earned his M.A. from Tel Aviv University on the same subject, also cum laude. A fluent Arabic speaker, Avi was the Middle East Affairs correspondent for Israeli Public Radio covering the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the war in Iraq and the Arab countries between the years 2003-2006. Avi directed and edited short documentary films on Israeli television programs dealing with the Middle East. In 2002 he won the "best reporter" award for the "Israel Radio” for his coverage of the second intifada. In 2004, together with Amos Harel, he wrote "The Seventh War - How we won and why we lost the war with the Palestinians." A year later the book won an award from the Institute for Strategic Studies for containing the best research on security affairs in Israel. In 2008, Issacharoff and Harel published their second book, entitled "34 Days - The Story of the Second Lebanon War," which won the same prize.
 2 June 2014, 3:07 am
Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah (photo credit: CC BY Bundesministerium für Europa, Integration und Äusseres/Flickr)

The Palestinian news agency Ma’an published Sunday evening a list of ministers in the new Palestinian unity government.

The government will be in all likelihood be sworn in Monday at 1 p.m. at Palestinian Authority head Mahmoud Abbas’s presidential compound in Ramallah.

As yet, no one has been named to lead the Interior Ministry, which is responsible for the Palestinian security forces.

According to this list, most of the central positions will be filled by Abbas’s allies (the two deputy prime ministers, as well as the foreign and treasury ministers).

Rami Hamdallah will head the government as prime minister.

His cabinet will consist of:

Muhammad Mustafa – Deputy prime minister for economic affairs

Ziad Abu Amr – Deputy prime minister for political affairs, culture minister

Shukri Bishara – Finance minister

Nayaf Abu Khalaf – Local governance minister

Rula Maaya – Tourism minister

Hifa al-Ara – Work and society minister

Mamoun Abu Shahla – Labor minister

Mufeed Hasayneh – Public works and housing minister

Yusef Idees – Religion and waqfs minister

Riyad al-Maliki – Foreign minister

Salim al-Saqqa – Justice minister

Khawla al-Shakhsheer – Education minister

Allam Moussa – Communications minister

Shawqu al-Aiysa – Agriculture minister

Jawad Awwad – Health minister

Adnan al-Husseini – Jerusalem affairs minister

Wael Dweikat- Transportation minister

It is still unclear what will happen with the Prisoners Ministry.

read more: