JERUSALEM — The United States welcomed the establishment of a new Palestinian government and said it was open to changes to the cabinet as a step toward Palestinian political reform.
The Biden administration has called for the “revitalization” of the Palestinian Authority, based in the West Bank, in the hope that it will be able to take control of the Gaza Strip once the Israel-Hamas war ends. The war broke out about six months ago, triggered by Hamas' attack on southern Israel on October 7.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement late Friday that the United States looks forward to working with the new group of ministers “to deliver credible reforms.”
“Revitalising the PA is essential to delivering results for the Palestinian people in both the West Bank and Gaza and establishing the conditions for stability in the broader region,” Miller said.
The Palestinian Authority controls parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The organization is headed by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who has not held an election in almost 20 years.
The United States views the Palestinian Authority as an important part of its priority plans for the postwar Gaza Strip. But the authority has little public support or legitimacy among Palestinians, who see it as a subcontractor of the occupation because of its security cooperation with Israel in the West Bank.
Earlier this month, Prime Minister Abbas named Mohammad Mustafa, a US-educated economist, as prime minister. On Thursday, Mustafa named a new lineup. They include relatively unknown technocrats, as well as Abbas' interior minister and several members of his secular Fatah movement. Several ministers are from Gaza, but it is not clear whether they currently live there.
The Islamic extremist group Hamas, Prime Minister Abbas' rival, forced security forces out of Gaza in its 2007 occupation. The United States wants a reformed Palestinian Authority to return to control Gaza, an idea rejected by both Israel and Hamas.
If the Palestinian Authority is given the role of managing Gaza, its major challenge will be reconstruction. The nearly six-month war has destroyed hospitals, schools, homes, and critical infrastructure such as roads, sewers, and power grids. Air strikes and Israeli ground attacks have killed more than 32,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials. The fighting has displaced more than 80% of Gaza's population and pushed hundreds of thousands to the brink of starvation, according to the United Nations and international aid agencies.
Israel said it would maintain unrestricted security control over Gaza and partner with Palestinians not affiliated with the Palestinian Authority or Hamas. It is unclear who in Gaza would be willing to take on such a role.
Hamas has warned Palestinians in the Gaza Strip against cooperating with Israel to administer the territory, saying anyone who does so will be treated as a collaborator, which is considered a death threat. Hamas has rejected the idea of forming a new Palestinian government as illegitimate and instead called on all Palestinian factions, including Fatah, to form a power-sharing government ahead of national elections, which have not been held in 18 years.
