Palestinian President Abbas approves new government

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday signed a decree to install a new emergency cabinet led by U.S.-educated economist Salam Fayyad, a spokesman told Xinhua.

Nabil Abu Rudaina, spokesman for the Palestinian presidency, said the new cabinet is to take office at noon on Sunday.

The decree is the latest step by Abbas to consolidate power in the West Bank following Hamas' full takeover of the Gaza Strip.

The new cabinet consists of only 10 ministers, all of whom are independent scholars. Six are from the West Bank and four are from the Gaza Strip now controlled by Hamas.

An assistant to Abbas said earlier that the goal of the new cabinet is to maintain the security of the area which is not controlled by Hamas, to try to lift the economic blockade and ensure people's life necessities.

Abbas last week dissolved the unity government between his Fatah movement and Hamas in response to the takeover of Gaza and named U.S.-educated economist Salam Fayyad as his new prime minister.

The 55-year-old Fayyad, who acquired his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Texas at Austin, is a former World Bank official and lived in the United States for about 20 years.

He served twice as finance minister of the Palestinian government. Besides being finance minister of the Hamas-Fatah unity government since March 17 this year, he was also finance minister under a Fatah-led government from November of 2003 to early 2006, before the Hamas-dominated government took office.

Source: Xinhua