State of Palestine Government of August 2013

The Palestinian governments of 2013 were two Palestinian governments established respectively in June and September 2013. They ruled de facto over the West Bank only.

The Palestinian government of June 2013 was led by Rami Hamdallah, appointed by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas by presidential decree on 6 June 2013 in Ramallah, the West Bank. The cabinet comprised 24 members, and was not presented for approval by the Palestinian Legislative Council. Two weeks later, Hamdallah resigned in protest at the appointment of two deputy prime ministers for political and economic affairs. Hamdallah later backtracked from his resignation and on 19 September 2013, the cabinet was sworn in for the second time, without any changes.

The Hamdallah government succeeded the successive governments of Salam Fayyad, who had resigned as a consequence of the 2011–2012 anti-corruption protests.

Timeline

On 14 February 2013, amid pan-Arab calls for reform, Prime Minister Fayyad submitted to President Abbas his resignation along with that of his cabinet.[1] After consultations with other factions, institutions, and civil society groups, Abbas asked Fayyad to form a new government.[2] The reshuffle had long been demanded by Fayyad as well as members of Abbas's Fatah faction.[2]

On 6 June 2013, President Mahmud Abbas appointed Rami Hamdallah Prime Minister, but was not presented for approval by the Palestinian Legislative Council.

Two weeks later, Hamdallah resigned in protest at the appointment of two deputy prime ministers for political and economic affairs.[3] According to Hassan Khraisheh, deputy speaker of the PLC, the real reason Hamdallah resigned was because he discovered the Prime Minister has no power and that there was no point in having a prime minister “at a time when President Abbas has a monopoly over all the executive branch’s authorities.” “The presence of two deputy prime ministers, who are friends of President Abbas, means that the prime minister is a powerless figure,”[4] Hamdallah’s June appointment was originally envisioned as an interim measure until a unity government with Hamas could be formed.

On 23 June 2013, Abbas accepted Hamdallah’s resignation, but asked him to stay on on a caretaker basis until a new premier could be appointed.[3]

On 19 September 2013, Hamdallah withdrew his resignation and the government was sworn in for the second time, without any changes.[5]

In June 2014, the government was replaced by a Fatah-Hamas unity government, with Hamdallah as prime minister.

Members of the Government

June 2013 to June 2014 [6][7][8]

	Minister	Office	Party
1	Rami Hamdallah	Prime Minister	Fatah
2	Ziad Abu Amr	Deputy Prime Minister for Political Affairs[5]
3	Muhammad Mustafa	Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs[5]
4	Riyad al-Malki[9]	Foreign Affairs Minister	Ex.PFLP
5	Said Abu Ali	Interior Minister	Fatah
6	Shukri Bishara	Finance Minister
7	Ali Muhanna	Justice
8	Ahmad Majdalani	Labor
9	Ali Abu Zuhri	Education Minister
10	Kamal al-Sharafi	Social Affairs
11	Mahmoud al-Habash	Waqf and Religious Affairs
12	Rabiha Diab	Women's Affairs
13	Issa Qaraqe	Prisoners Affairs
14	Maher Ghneim	Public works and Housing
15	Adnan al-Husseini	Jerusalem Affairs
16	Jawad Harazallah	National Economy
17	Rula Maa'yaa	Tourism and Antiquities
18	Safaa’ Nasser Eddin	Telecommunications and Information Technology
19	Walid Assaf	Agriculture
20	Jawad Awwad	Health
21	Sa’ed al-Kawni	Local Government
22	Nabil Dmeidi	Transportation
23	Muhammad Abu Ramadan	State for Planning affairs
24	Hussein al-Sheikh	Civil Affairs [10]	Fatah
25	Fawwaz Aqel	Secretary-General of the Cabinet (Rank of Minister)

See also

• Palestinian government
• Hamas government of 2012

References

1. "Unrest in the Middle East and North Africa – country by country". CNN. 18 February 2011.
2. "Palestinian cabinet resigns". Al Jazeera English. 14 February 2011. Retrieved 19 February 2011.
3. Abbas asks caretaker Palestinian PM to stay on. Agence France-Presse, 13 August 2013
4. PA's Abbas accepts PM Hamdallah's resignation. Khaled Abu Toameh, Jerusalem Post, 23 June 2013
5. Abbas swears in 16th Palestinian Authority government in Ramallah. Jerusalem Post, 19 September 2013
6. Government of the State of Palestine, 6 June 2013. UN Observer SoP. Archived on 18 October 2013
7. United Nations Development Programme—Programme of Assistance to the Palestinian People. Archived on 17 September 2015
8. 15th government of Palestinian Authority sworn in. Khaled Abu Toameh, Jerusalem Post, 6 June 2013
9. Kuwait News. KUNA, 17 November 2013
10. Israel agrees to return stolen organs of dead Palestinians. Al Arabiya, 14 November 2013