RAMALLAH, West Bank: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday swore in a new government headed by a loyalist from his dominant Fatah party, a move rejected by his rivals Hamas as a blow to unity efforts.
Mohammed Shtayyeh, an economist and longtime Abbas adviser, will serve as prime minister of the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority (PA). Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki and Finance Minister Shukri Bishara will continue in their positions.
Shtayyeh was named Palestinian prime minister on March 10, replacing the independent university president Rami Al-Hamdallah. He will run the ministries of interior and religious affairs until new appointees are named for the two posts.
The rival Hamas group that runs Gaza called the move a blow to unity efforts that faltered since the two groups signed a new reconciliation deal in Cairo in October 2017, but disputes over power-sharing had blocked the implementation of the agreement.
"This is a separatist government, it has no national legitimacy and it will reinforce the chances of severing the West Bank from Gaza," said a statement issued by Hamas as the swearing ceremony in Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank ended.
Two factions of Abbas's Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) refused to take part in Shtayyeh's government.
Shtayyeh's immediate challenge is to shore up the cash-strapped PA, which exercises limited self-rule under interim peace accords with Israel.
The PA has been squeezed by steep US aid cuts, with the crisis exacerbated by a dispute with Israel over the withholding of some 5 percent of the monthly tax revenues it transfers to the Authority.
Israel said the sum it is holding back matches money used by the PA to pay stipends to families of militants in Israeli jails. The PA has refused to accept any tax transfers until those funds are restored. It scaled back wages paid to civil servants in February and March to weather the crisis.
Moreover, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is heading toward a fifth term in office after an election on April 9, said he would annex Israeli settlements in the West Bank if he is re-elected.
If implemented, the move would be a grave a blow to Palestinian aspirations of a two-state solution based on the 1967 borders. The peace process has all but collapsed and Israel has expanded its settlements in East Jerusalem and the West bank despite international objections.
Palestinian leaders said Israel was being empowered by US President Donald Trump to "violate national and human rights of the people of Palestine".
Nickolay Maldenov, the U.N. special Middle East peace envoy welcomed the announcement of a new government and promised to cooperate with it.
"The United Nations remains fully committed to working with the Palestinian leadership and people in ending the occupation and advancing their legitimate national aspirations for statehood based on UN resolutions," said Mladenov said.
Mahmoud El-Aloul, the second in command in Abbas's Fatah movement, acknowledged the challenges facing Shtayyeh's government including the deal Trump is expected to announce in coming months or weeks.
"We will be steadfast against these challenges and we will defy them," Aloul told Reuters after the ceremony.
Shtayyeh, a former government minister, has been part of a number of Palestinian negotiating teams in the United States-brokered talks with Israel.
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas swears in new government
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas swears in new government
- Mohammed Shtayyeh, an economist and longtime Abbas adviser, will serve as prime minister
- The rival Hamas group that runs Gaza called the move a blow to unity efforts
Mediator Qatar confirms ‘technical meetings’ on Gaza truce ongoing
“The technical meetings are still happening between both sides,” ministry spokesman Majed Al-Ansari said, referring to meetings with lower-level officials on the details of an agreement. “There are no principal meetings taking place at the moment.”
Mediators Qatar, Egypt and the United States have been engaged in months of talks between Israel and Hamas that have failed to end the devastating conflict in Gaza.
Ansari said there were “a lot of issues that are being discussed” in the ongoing meetings, but declined to go into details “to protect the integrity of the negotiations.”
Hamas said at the end of last week that indirect negotiations in Doha had resumed, while Israel said it had authorized negotiators to continue the talks in the Qatari capital.
A previous round of mediation in December ended with both sides blaming the other for the impasse, with Hamas accusing Israel of setting “new conditions” and Israel accusing Hamas of throwing up “obstacles” to a deal.
In December, the gas-rich Gulf emirate expressed optimism that “momentum” was returning to the talks following Donald Trump’s election victory in the United States.
A month earlier, Doha had said it was putting its mediation on hold, and that it would resume when Hamas and Israel showed “willingness and seriousness.”
Syrian mayor says Israel collected arms from locals in Golan buffer zone
- Some Syrians seized weapons left behind by soldiers and security personnel, Mreiwel said, with the Israeli army dedicating an area for people to hand over those weapons
QUNEITRA: A Syrian mayor told AFP he had meetings with Israeli officers as the military conducted incursions in his village inside a Golan Heights buffer zone, saying they had demanded locals relinquish their weapons.
The Israeli military, contacted by AFP, said it could not comment.
Mohamed Mreiwel, mayor of the village of Jabata Al-Khashab in Quneitra province, said on Monday that he had met three times with Israeli officials who had asked to see him.
Israel, long a foe of Syria, has launched hundreds of strikes on Syrian military sites since the fall of president Bashar Assad on December 8, destroying most of the army’s arsenal, a war monitor has said.
The same day Assad was toppled by Islamist-led forces, Israel also announced that its troops were crossing the armistice line and occupying the UN-patrolled buffer zone that has separated Israeli and Syrian forces on the strategic Golan Heights since 1974.
Mreiwel said that in his first meeting with the Israelis, “they asked for weapons to be handed over to them within 48 hours.”
Residents of the village, which is located in the buffer zone, had complied with the request, he said.
Syria’s army collapsed in the face of the rebel offensive, with thousands of soldiers, policemen and other security officials deserting their posts.
Some Syrians seized weapons left behind by soldiers and security personnel, Mreiwel said, with the Israeli army “dedicating an area for people to hand over those weapons.”
During his latest meeting with the Israelis on Sunday, “we told them that we no longer had any weapons and that if we had any, we would hand them over to the Syrian government,” said Mreiwel.
He added that he told the Israeli officials that “we are not allowed to meet with you,” as Syria and Israel are still technically at war and do not have diplomatic ties.
Israeli troops have conducted patrols on the main street of Jabata Al-Khashab, an AFP correspondent said.
Israeli tanks are also stationed in nearby Baath City, named for the now suspended political party that ran Syria for decades until Assad’s ousting.
Israel seized much of the Golan Heights from Syria in war in 1967, later annexing the territory in a move largely unrecognized by the international community.
Jordan, Syria to combat arms and drugs smuggling, resurgence of Daesh
DUBAI: Jordan and Syria agreed to form a joint security committee to secure their border and combat the smuggling of arms and drugs as well as cooperating to prevent the resurgence of Daesh, Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said on Tuesday.
During the press conference with his Jordanian counterpart Al-Shibani said that the latest US move to ease sanctions should be a step towards full lifting of sanctions. Shibani said existing sanctions were a main hurdle to the recovery of Syria
Israel calls for pressure on Turkiye to stop attack on Kurds
JERUSALEM: Turkiye must face pressure from world powers to stop attacks on Kurds in northern Syria, a senior Israeli foreign ministry official said on Tuesday.
"The international community must call on Turkey to stop these aggressions and killing. The Kurds must be protected by the international community," foreign ministry director general Eden Bar Tal told reporters.
Palestinian health ministry says 2 killed in Israeli West Bank raids
- Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 820 Palestinians in the West Bank since the start of the war
Ramallah: The Palestinian ministry of health said Israeli forces killed two people on Tuesday in separate raids in the northern West Bank, while the military said it had targeted a “terrorist cell.”
One Palestinian was killed in the town of Tammun, and another in the village of Talouza, the Ramallah-based ministry said.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said its teams had transported the body of an 18-year-old from Tammun who was killed “as a result of shelling,” and that five other people were severely injured during the Israeli raid.
The body was taken to the Turkish Hospital in the nearby city of Tubas, where the director identified the deceased as Suleiman Qutaishat.
The Red Crescent said the other Palestinian was killed in an Israeli raid around the village of Talouza, near Nablus, and was 40 years old.
Residents in the area identified him as Jaafar Dababshe, who they said was shot dead by Israeli forces in front of his house.
The Israeli army when contacted did not offer details, but said on its Telegram channel: “An air force aircraft targeted an armed terrorist cell in the Tammun area” in the early hours of Tuesday.
Violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank has soared since the war in Gaza erupted on October 7, 2023 after Hamas’ attack on Israel.
Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 820 Palestinians in the West Bank since the start of the war, according to the Ramallah-based health ministry.
Palestinian attacks on Israelis have also killed at least 28 people in the West Bank in the same period, according to Israeli official figures.
On Monday, three Israelis were killed when gunmen opened fire on a bus and other vehicles in the West Bank, according to medics.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967.