Pressed by Washington to "reform" and "revitalize" the Palestinian Authority (PA), President Mahmoud Abbas appointed his trusted adviser Mohammad Mustafa on March 14 to form a new government in Ramallah. The economist, a respected but unremarkable senior civil servant, is to assemble a team of experts to prepare for the post-war period in Gaza.

This move enables Abbas to demonstrate to the American administration that he has begun a reform process that was announced months ago but which his backers consider purely cosmetic. It also gives this deeply unpopular leader, elected in 2005 for a four-year term, the opportunity to seal power around his inner circle, depoliticizing it even further.

This announcement drew sharp criticism from Hamas, which accused the government of "making decisions contrary to the will of the Palestinian people," in a statement published on March 15 with Islamic Jihad, the Marxists of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and democratic opponent Mustafa Barghouti. "Forming a new government without national consensus is a reinforcement of a policy of exclusion and the deepening of division" in Palestine, the statement predicts, while Hamas is denied any influence over the process.

For several months, the movement's exiled political leaders have been stepping up contacts with Fatah officials critical of President Abbas, candidates to succeed the 88-year-old president and victims of the purges that marked his reign.

The Islamist movement is seeking to survive by negotiating a withdrawal of the Israeli army from Gaza, in exchange for the release of the hostages it captured during the assault on October 7, 2023. Until then, it seemed open to the formation of a government of experts, a representative acceptable to regional players and international donors, charged with taking charge of what remains of Gaza's administrative structures.

Hamas is seeking to join the Palestine Liberation Organization, a collective body of factions that Abbas has almost entirely stripped of all substance, but which remains the only recognized representative of the Palestinian people abroad.

Abbas says privately that he is indifferent to Hamas supporting the government from the outside, on the condition that it dismantles its military apparatus. This condition set by his Western partners is unacceptable to the movement. On March 15, the president published a sharp Fatah response to the criticism of its rivals: The party accused the Islamists of "having caused the return of the Israeli occupation of Gaza" by "undertaking the October 7 adventure." Hamas attacks in Israel have claimed 1,100 victims and provoked deadly reprisals, resulting in the deaths of over 31,700 people in the enclave.

You have 20.8% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.