In March, Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas appointed a new prime minister and asked him to form a new government, which he did.
Months later, a majority of Palestinians don't even know their new prime minister's name.
A survey last month from AWRAD explains:
Palestinians have limited knowledge of the newly-appointed government, especially in the Gaza Strip. More than one month after its formal inauguration (31 March 2024), one third of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza are unaware a new government has been formed.Though the majority of respondents are aware that a new government is formed, they are markedly less knowledgeable of its composition. For example, only 32% of respondents were able to accurately name the new Prime Minister. Rates are slightly higher in the West Bank (40%) than Gaza (22%), but also show that, in neither territory is a majority of the population able to identify the current head of the government.
The reason they don't know his name is because the government is almost meaningless. All major decisions are made by Mahmoud Abbas alone, as he heads the Palestinian Authority, the PLO and Fatah. He is a dictator who controls all branches of the government.
The government itself remains between impotent and dysfunctional. Many of the ministry websites (like the justice ministry and the cabinet website itself) are down or out of date. The sites that are up usually don't have any useful information, more self-promotion that providing services for the people.
No wonder people don't know the name of their prime minister. It doesn't matter. Abbas is like Iran's Supreme Leader, but unlike Khamenei, he doesn't bother pretending there is a democratic process when choosing a figurehead of government.
The current prime minister is also minister of foreign affairs. But Mahmoud Abbas created a new position for the previous minister, Riyad al Maliki, to be his personal Advisor on International Affairs and he sends him around the world to continue doing what he used to do officially.
This gives an idea of how irrelevant the Palestinian government is.
By the way, the prime minister's name is Mohammad Mustafa.
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