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Thursday, July 30, 2015
PA announces government reshuffle, Hamas calls move a 'coup'

PA announces government reshuffle, Hamas calls move a 'coup'
July 30, 2015 6:11 P.M. (Updated: July 30, 2015 6:14 P.M.)
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=766752

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- The Palestinian Authority on Thursday announced that a
long awaited reshuffle of the Palestinian cabinet had been agreed upon,
Palestinian officials told Ma'an.

Hussein al-Araj, formerly the Deputy Minister of Local Governance and
Governor of Nablus and Hebron, will serve as the Minister of Local
Governance, sources said.

Sabri Saydam will serve as the Minister of Education. He formerly served as
the Minister of Communications and Information Technology.

Former Minister of Public Works, Deputy Minister of Planning and
International Cooperation, and representative of The Palestine Investment
Fund, Samih al-Abed, will become the Minister of Transportation.

Sufian Sultan, the former head of the Palestinian Environmental Authority --
which was later merged, in part, into the Ministry of Agriculture -- will
serve as the Minister of Agriculture, while Abeer Odeh will serve as the
Minister of National Economy.

Odeh served as the CEO of Palestine Capital Market Authority, a governmental
financial institution.

The new ministers will be sworn-in on Friday after prayers in the
Palestinian Presidential headquarters in Ramallah.

There had been talk of a reshuffle for months, but in mid-June it was
announced at a Fatah council meeting that the entire government would soon
be dissolved.

The reshuffle is an attempt to preserve and reform the body, instead of
dismantling it.

The unity government was formed in June 2014 in a bid to end division
between the Fatah-led PLO and Hamas, but has so far been unsuccessful in
doing so.

The Hamas movement said Thursday that it disapproved of the unity
government's reshuffle and called the move “unconstitutional and outside
consensus.”

Hamas spokesperson, Sami Abu Zuhri, added that the reshuffle represents a
coup on the unity deal and said that the PA has become a separatist
government.

Officials told Ma'an in June that Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah's
resignation was an imminent part of the reshuffle, but it has yet to
officially materialize.

Hamdallah also serves as the Minister of Interior.

The other 19 ministry positions have remained unchanged. Currently, four
ministers hold positions as heads of up to three different ministries.

Attempts for reform came after the unity government formed in June last year
repeatedly failed to overcome divisive issues between Fatah and Hamas.

Power has remained divided between the Hamas-led Gaza Strip and
Fatah-dominated West Bank since 2007.

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