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RAMALLAH: Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa formed a new cabinet on Thursday in which he will also serve as foreign minister, making an immediate ceasefire and Israeli withdrawal from Gaza a top priority, Palestinian news agency WAFA<\/em> reported.<\/p>\n Mustafa, an ally to President Mahmoud Abbas and a leading business figure, was appointed premier this month with a mandate to help reform the Palestinian Authority (PA), which exercises limited self-rule in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.<\/p>\n He was also assigned to lead the relief and rebuilding of Gaza, which has been shattered by more than five months of war, while he performs double-duty as foreign minister, replacing Riyad al-Maliki who had served in the position since 2009.<\/p>\n Abbas, who as president remains by far the most powerful figure in the PA, appointed the new government in a demonstration of willingness to meet international demands for change in the administration.<\/p>\n Calls for immediate ceasefire, Israeli withdrawal from Gaza<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n He approved Mustafa\u2019s cabinet with financial expert Omar al-Bitar as finance minister, and Muhamad al Amour, who served as the president of the Palestinian Businessmen Association, as economy minister, but kept Ziad Hab al-Reeh, former chief of the PA\u2019s internal intelligence agency, as interior minister, WAFA<\/em> said.<\/p>\n The new cabinet will also include a state minister for \u201crelief affairs\u201d.<\/p>\n Mustafa said in a cabinet statement addressed to Abbas that the first national priority is an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and a complete Israeli withdrawal from the enclave, in addition to allowing humanitarian aid to enter in large quantities and reaching all areas, WAFA<\/em> reported.<\/p>\n \u201cIn order to enable the launch of the recovery process and preparation for reconstruction, stop the aggression and settlement activities, and curb settlers\u2019 terrorism in the West Bank,\u201d Mustafa added.<\/p>\n Hamas, the movement that controlled Gaza until Israel\u2019s invasion in the wake of the Oct 7 attack on southern Israel, has criticised the appointment of Mustafa, but it had no immediate reaction to the naming of his new cabinet.<\/p>\n The PA, controlled by Abbas\u2019s Fatah political faction, has long had a strained relationship with Hamas, and the two factions fought a brief war before Fatah was expelled from the territory in 2007.<\/p>\n However, it has repeatedly condemned the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip following the Hamas-led assault on Israel on Oct 7, and has insisted it must play a role in running Gaza after the war.<\/p>\n Published in Dawn, March 29th, 2024<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" London: Demonstrators protest outside the Department for Business and Trade in support of Palestinians, on Thursday.\u2014Reuters RAMALLAH: Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa formed a new cabinet on Thursday in which he will also serve as foreign minister, making an immediate ceasefire and Israeli withdrawal from Gaza a top priority, Palestinian news agency WAFA reported. Mustafa, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":76630,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.dawn.com\/large\/2024\/03\/29081904bc24d02.png?r=081931","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[192],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-76629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-islamabad-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n