New Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Ishtaye and his cabinet members were sworn in in front of President Mahmoud Abbas, in Ramallah, on Saturday.
The 22-member government includes 16 new ministers. Five ministers who served in the previous government, headed by Rami Hamdallah, have retained their jobs. They include PA Foreign Minister Riad Malki and PA Finance Minister Shukri Bishara.
Prime Minister Ishtaye will serve as the minister of interior and minister of Waqf, or religious affairs, until two new ministers are named.
The President said then that the mission of the new government will be to speed up reuniting the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and to hold legislative elections in the West Bank, Jerusalem and Gaza.
Moreover, the new government’s top priority is supporting the decisions of the Palestinian cause, which include restoring national unity, and providing material and moral support to the victims of the occupation and their families, prisoners, martyrs and the wounded.
IShtayeh was Born in the city of Nablus in the West Bank in 1958, studied at Birzeit University in the West Bank, completed a PhD in development at Sussex University in Britain, He served as a minister of public works and housing between 2005-2006 and 2008-2010 and head of the Palestinian Economic Council for Development and Reconstruction.
KH.R
