Hamas Lashes Out at Abbas’s ‘Unilateral’ Designation of New PM
Hamas criticized the “unilateral” designation by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of an ally and leading business figure as prime minister with a mandate to help reform the Palestinian Authority (PA) and rebuild Gaza.
Mohammad Mustafa’s appointment comes after mounting pressure to overhaul the governing body of the Palestinian territories and improve governance in the West Bank where it is based.
Hamas said the decision was taken without consulting it despite recently taking part in a meeting in Moscow also attended by Abbas’s Fatah movement to end long-time divisions weakening Palestinian political aspirations.
“We express our rejection of continuing this approach that has inflicted and continues to inflict harm on our people and our national cause,” Hamas said in a statement.
“Making individual decisions and engaging in superficial and empty steps such as forming a new government without national consensus only reinforces a policy of unilateralism and deepens division.
“These steps indicate the depth of the crisis within the leadership of the Authority, its detachment from reality, and the significant gap between it and our people, their concerns, and aspirations, as confirmed by the opinions of the vast majority of our people who have expressed a loss of confidence in these policies and orientations.”
At a time of war with Israel, Palestinians needed a unified leadership preparing for free democratic elections involving all components of their society, it added.
Mustafa, who helped organize the reconstruction of Gaza following a previous conflict, was assigned to lead the relief and rebuilding of the area, which has been shattered by more than five months of war, and reform Palestinian Authority institutions, according to the designation letter.
He replaces former Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh who, along with his government, resigned in February.
Hamas said any attempt to exclude it from the political scene after the war was “delusional.”
