US ‘looks forward’ to working with new PA cabinet, Blinken tells Abbas

President Mahmoud Abbas has faced pressure from the US to reform the PA

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas, in Ramallah in January. AP

The US is enthusiastic about working with the newly formed Palestinian Authority cabinet, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday.

Washington has been calling on the Palestinian Authority to introduce a series of reforms to better govern the occupied West Bank, and potentially Gaza after the war.

“The United States looks forward to working with the new PA cabinet to promote peace, security and prosperity and urged the implementation of necessary reforms,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a readout of a call between Mr Blinken and Mr Abbas.

“Secretary Blinken emphasised that a revitalised PA is essential to delivering results for the Palestinian people in both the West Bank and Gaza,” Mr Miller added.

The cabinet, which is made up of mostly technocrats, was put together by newly appointed Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa, a longtime economic adviser to Mr Abbas.

Mr Mustafa, who was educated in Iraq and the US, where he earned a doctorate from George Washington University, established the Palestine Telecommunications Company in the 1990s and has been involved in a host of high-level positions in the West Bank, including serving as deputy prime minister from 2013 to 2014.

The PA has long been plagued by allegations of corruption and mismanagement and has little popular support in the West Bank. Washington hopes a new Prime Minister and cabinet will help to alter perceptions of the authority, which the US believes is vital to a future Gaza.