BICOM

A new Palestinian government in the West Bank was sworn in yesterday at a ceremony in Ramallah, in a move which disgruntled Gaza’s Hamas rulers.

Last week, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas entrusted Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad with forming a new cabinet until circumstances allow the formation of a coalition with Hamas, as agreed in the Doha Accords that Abbas and Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal signed in February. The two Palestinian factions have so far failed to implement the Doha Accords, mainly due to strong opposition from the Hamas leadership in Gaza.

New ministers new took over several key portfolios including that of the finance and justice ministries, an official list of the line-up showed. The Finance portfolio, which Fayyad had held since 2007, will now be in the hands of Nabil Qassis, a former president of Bir Zeit University near Ramallah. Ali Muhana, former head of the Bar Association in the West Bank, was appointed justice minister.

The new cabinet consists of representatives of Fatah, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Palestinian Democratic Union, as well as independent figures. It includes six female ministers – the largest number of women to serve in a PA cabinet.

Hamas condemned the new cabinet, saying the decision would only solidify divisions among the Palestinians. Hamas spokesman, Fawzi Barhoum, said the Fayyad government had never been the choice of the Palestinians, especially in light of the fact that the Palestinian Legislative Council did not approve it.

Barhoum also accused Abbas of bypassing the Doha Accords with Hamas by forming a new cabinet without the Islamist movement.

Earlier yesterday, Abbas also moved to change the election law, which until now recently stipulated that local elections must be held simultaneously across all of the Palestinian territories, local development minister Khaled Qawasme told AFP. The amendment means that local elections can now be held separately in the West Bank and Gaza and do not have to take place on the same day, freeing up the PA to begin planning a long-overdue vote, he said.

“Today president Abbas changed the local election law and gave the government the right to call elections in stages,” Qawasme told AFP. “These elections are very necessary. It will be the top priority for the new government.”

Local elections had been due to take place last July but were first postponed until October, then deferred indefinitely. The last time the Palestinians went to the polls was for parliamentary elections in 2006.