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Hamas submits cabinet list

Hamas has presented to the Palestinian president a cabinet made up of party loyalists after the Islamic group failed to persuade any rival factions to join their government.

Haniyeh presented his list to Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday
Published On 20 Mar 2006

Officials from President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction said he would not try to block parliamentary approval of the government but would issue a letter detailing his reservations about its policies.

Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas prime minister-designate, speaking to a joint news conference on Sunday, said: “I met Brother Abu Mazen (Abbas) and officially submitted to him the list of the cabinet.

“The president is going to study the make-up of the government and its programme,” he said, adding that the atmosphere of the meeting had been positive.

The 24-member cabinet is made up mostly of Hamas members, and includes one woman and one Christian.

Moderate parties had been pressured by the US to shun an administration led by Hamas, which has rejected demands to recognise Israel, renounce violence and accept interim peace accords – conditions for continued Western aid.

Hamas, which eclipsed the long-dominant Fatah faction in the January 25 elections, completed its cabinet just over a week before Israel’s own general election on March 28.

Abbas said before meeting Haniyeh that parliament would convene soon for a vote of confidence in the new government.

Here is the list of the Hamas cabinet members:

  • Ismail Haniyeh: prime minister and minister of youth and sports
  • Mahmoud al-Zahar: minister of foreign affairs
  • Nasser al-Shaer: deputy prime minister and minister of education and higher education
  • Said Siyam: minister of interior and civil affairs
  • Omar Abdel Razzaq: minister of finance
  • Alaa al-Araj: minister of economy
  • Bassem Naim: minister of health
  • Fakhri Turkman: minister of social affairs
  • Tareq Abu Arafa: minister of Jerusalem affairs
  • Tannas Abu Eita: minister of tourism
  • Ahmed al-Khalidi: minister of justice
  • Ziad al-Zaza: minister of public works and housing
  • Mohammed al-Agha: minister of agriculture
  • Nayef al-Rajoub: minister of Waqf and religious affairs
  • Samir Abu Eisha: minister of planning
  • Jamal al-Khudari: minister of communications, technology and IT
  • Abdelrahman Zeidan: minister of transportation
  • Mariam Saleh: minister of women’s affairs
  • Attallah Abu al-Sibbah: minister of culture
  • Yussef Ruzqa: minister of information
  • Wasfi Kabaha: minister of prisoners
  • Issa al-Jaabari: minister of local government
  • Mohammed al-Barghouthi: minister of labor
  • Atef Udwan: minister of state
  • Mohammed Awad: cabinet secretary

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Source: News Agencies