A non-partisan, technocratic government for Palestinian Authority

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has appointed his longtime economic adviser Mohammed Mustafa (photo) to be the next prime minister despite the US pressure to reform the Palestinian Authority as part of Washington’s post-war vision for Gaza.

The former prime minister resigned on February 26.

Mohammad Mustafa (70 years old) obtained his doctorate in economics from George Washington University, and has 15 years of experience working at the World Bank, and also served as a member of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) since 2022. Mohammad Mustafa, the former head of the Palestine Investment Fund and Mahmoud Abbas's economic adviser.

The incoming Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa said that he will appoint a technocratic government and establish an independent trust fund to oversee Gaza’s reconstruction.

In a mission statement acquired by The Associated Press, Mohammad Mustafa laid out wide-ranging plans for the kind of revitalized Palestinian Authority called for by the United States as part of its postwar vision for resolving the conflict.

But the PA has no power in Gaza, from which Hamas drove its forces in 2007, and only limited authority in parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas designated Mustafa as prime minister last week. The U.S.-educated economist and longtime adviser to Abbas is an independent with no political base.

In the mission statement, Mustafa said he would appoint a “non-partisan, technocratic government that can gain both the trust of our people and the support of the international community.” He promised wide-ranging reforms of PA institutions and a “zero tolerance” policy toward corruption.

He said he would seek to reunify the territories and create an “independent, competent and transparent agency for Gaza’s recovery and reconstruction and an internationally managed trust fund to raise, manage and disburse the required funds.”

The vision statement made no mention of Hamas, which won a landslide victory the last time Palestinians held national elections, in 2006, and which polls indicate still has significant support.

Mustafa said the PA aims to hold presidential and parliamentary elections, but he did not give a timetable and said it would depend on “realities on the ground” in Gaza, the West Bank and east Jerusalem, territories Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war that the Palestinians want for their future state.

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