Governance of the Gaza Strip

rdf:langString Governance of the Gaza Strip

rdf:langString Cabinet

rdf:langString The governance of the Gaza Strip since the Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip in June 2007 has been carried out by Hamas, which is often referred to as the Hamas government in Gaza. The Hamas administration was led by Ismail Haniyeh from 2007 to 2014 and again from 2016. After Hamas won the Palestinian legislative elections on 25 January 2006, Ismail Haniyeh was nominated Prime Minister, establishing a Palestinian national unity government with Fatah. This government effectively collapsed with the outbreak of the violent conflict between Hamas and Fatah. After the takeover of the Gaza Strip by Hamas on 14 June 2007, Palestinian Authority Chairman Abbas dismissed the Hamas-led government and appointed Salam Fayyad Prime Minister. Though the new Ramallah-based Palestinian government's authority was claimed to extend to all Palestinian territories, in effect it became limited to the West Bank, as Hamas would not recognize the dismissal and continued to rule the Gaza Strip. Both administrations – the Fatah government in Ramallah and the Hamas government in Gaza – regarded themselves as the sole legitimate government of the Palestinian National Authority. The international community and Palestine Liberation Organization, however, recognized the Ramallah administration as the legitimate government. Since the division between the two parties, there have been conflicts between Hamas and similar factions operating in Gaza, and with Israel, most notably the Gaza War of 2008-2009 and the 2014 Gaza War. The radicalization of the Gaza Strip brought internal conflicts between various groups, in events like 2009 Hamas crackdown on Jund Ansar Allah, an al-Qaeda affiliated group, resulting in 22 people killed; and the April 2011 Hamas crackdown on Jahafil Al-Tawhid Wal-Jihad fi Filastin, a Salafist group involved in Vittorio Arrigoni's murder. Since 2015, have also become Hamas' matter of concern. Negotiations toward reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas, which were mediated by Egypt, produced a preliminary agreement in 2011, which was supposed to be implemented by May 2012 through joint elections. Despite the peace plan, Palestinian sources were quoted in January 2012 as saying that the May joint elections "would not be possible". In February 2012, Khaled Meshal and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas signed the Hamas–Fatah Doha agreement towards implementation of the 2011 Cairo accords, though Hamas officials in the Gaza Strip expressed their discontent and "unacceptibility" of the Doha agreement. A unity government was sworn on 2 June 2014. The government was supposed to exercise its functions in Gaza, or to form a government of national unity whose members would be from all Palestinian factions, including Hamas, Fatah and all other factions, and which would be responsible for Gaza and the West Bank and prepare for elections but it did not happen because of disagreements between the two parties. Nevertheless, the unity government had failed to implement authority over Gaza Strip and from September 2016 Hamas gradually expanded the authority of its Deputy Minister and Director General-level positions based in Gaza, in a move widely referred as establishment of an alternative government.

rdf:langString Hamas Government in Gaza