Abbas swears in 16th Palestinian Authority government in Ramallah

No changes made to make-up of government headed by Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah.

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
Abbas and Hamdallah 370 (photo credit: REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman)
Abbas and Hamdallah 370
(photo credit: REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman)
The 16th Palestinian Authority government was sworn in by President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah on Thursday.
No changes were made to the make-up of the government, which is headed by Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah.
Sources in Ramallah said Abbas refused to allow Hamdallah to replace any of the 24 ministers.
Hamdallah’s government was formed last June, and two weeks later, Hamdallah, former president of An-Najah University in Nablus, surprised Abbas by submitting his resignation. Hamdallah decided to quit in protest of the appointment of two deputy prime ministers for political and economic affairs.
However, Hamdallah later backtracked and apologized to Abbas for the embarrassing resignation.
Hamdallah has been serving as prime minister of a caretaker government after Abbas agreed to keep him in his job. The two deputy prime ministers, Mohamed Mustafa and Ziad Abu Amr, will continue to serve in their posts.
Following the swearing in ceremony, Abbas chaired a meeting of the new government.