Ramallah: The new 18th Palestinian government headed by Mohammad Shtayeh was sworn-in at Ramallah. While most of the 22 members of the government are new, key ministries such as the finance and foreign ministries, remained in the hands of the incumbents. President Abbas asked Fatah Central Committee member Mohammad Shtayeh to form the new Palestinian government on March 10 to replace the government of Rami Hamdallah, which rendered its resignation on January 29 after four years in office. The President said that the mission of the new government will be to speed up reuniting the West Bank and Gaza Strip as well as to work towards holding legislative elections in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip to strengthen democracy. Shtayeh was born in the village of Tel, near Nablus, in 1958 and got his undergraduate degree at Birzeit University and his doctorate in economics from the University of Sussex in the United Kingdom.
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