The Palestinian Authority Government of February 2005 was a government of the

Palestinian National Authority The Palestinian National Authority (PA or PNA; ar, السلطة الوطنية الفلسطينية '), commonly known as the Palestinian Authority and officially the State of Palestine,

(PA) which existed from 24 February 2005 to March 2006. It was headed by

Ahmed Qurei Ahmed Ali Mohammed Qurei (or Qureia; ar, أحمد علي محمد قريع, ), also known by his Arabic '' kunya'' Abu Alaa (, ) (born 26 March 1937) is a former Prime Minister of the Palestinian National Authority. First appointed to the positi ...

and composed of 24 ministers. The cabinet was dominated by technocrat professional appointees, nearly half of them with doctoral degrees. A large part of the Government was Fatah affiliated. The Government was approved by the

Palestinian Legislative Council The Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) is the unicameral legislature of the Palestinian Authority, elected by the Palestinian residents of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. It currently comprises 132 members, ...

by a 54-12 vote, with four abstentions. It was succeeded by the Hamas-led Government of March 2006.

Background

Pursuant to the

Oslo Accords The Oslo Accords are a pair of agreements between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO): the Oslo I Accord, signed in Washington, D.C., in 1993;

, the authority of the PA Government is limited to some civil rights of the Palestinians in the West Bank Areas A and B and in the Gaza Strip, and to

internal security Internal security is the act of keeping peace within the borders of a sovereign state or other self-governing territories, generally by upholding the national law and defending against internal security threats. Responsibility for internal secu ...

in Area A and in Gaza. In January 2005, Mahmoud Abbas was elected the new

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

, following the death of

Yasser Arafat Mohammed Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf al-Qudwa al-Husseini (4 / 24 August 1929 – 11 November 2004), popularly known as Yasser Arafat ( , ; ar, محمد ياسر عبد الرحمن عبد الرؤوف عرفات القدوة الحسيني, Mu ...

. Abbas asked the incumbent Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei to continue in his post and form a new cabinet. In March 2005, twelve Palestinian factions agreed on the

Palestinian Cairo Declaration The Palestinian Cairo Declaration was a declaration signed on 19 March 2005 by twelve Palestinian factions, including Fatah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and Democratic Front for the Liberation of Pal ...

, which besides other things proposed that

Hamas Hamas (, ; , ; an acronym of , "Islamic Resistance Movement") is a Palestinian Sunni- Islamic fundamentalist, militant, and nationalist organization. It has a social service wing, Dawah, and a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qas ...

and Islamic Jihad join the

Palestinian Liberation Organisation The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; ar, منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية, ') is a Palestinian nationalist political and militant organization founded in 1964 with the initial purpose of establishing Arab unity and sta ...

Formation

In February 2005, News Agency WAFA published a list of members of the new government to be presented in the

for a vote of confidence. Fatah legislators had agreed to vote in favor of the government on 21 February. Due to repeated demands by

Fatah Fatah ( ar, فتح '), formerly the Palestinian National Liberation Movement, is a Palestinian nationalist social democratic political party and the largest faction of the confederated multi-party Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and s ...

officials and PLC members to make the new cabinet more reform-minded, however, the vote of confidence was repeatedly delayed. It was finally passed on 24 February, after Qurei had revised the list of ministers to accommodate these demands. The Government was approved in Parliament by a 54-12 vote, with four abstentions (at the time, the PLC had 88 seats).''New Palestinian Cabinet Sworn In''
CBS/AP, 24 February 2005 It was headed again by

, and composed of 24 ministers. It was a technocrats cabinet dominated by professional appointees, nearly half of them with doctoral degrees. A large part of the Government was Fatah affiliated.''Current Palestinian Government Structure (Factsheet)''
MIFTAH, 3 December 2005

Timeline

On 15 December 2005, Qurei briefly resigned his Prime Minister post to run for a seat in the Palestinian Parliament in the January 2006 elections, but returned to office nine days later after deciding not to run. On 26 January 2006, Qurei announced his intention to resign following the Fatah party's defeat by

in the

parliamentary elections A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

.''Palestinian PM to quit after poll''
BBC, 26 January 2006 At the request of PNA President,

Mahmoud Abbas Mahmoud Abbas ( ar, مَحْمُود عَبَّاس, Maḥmūd ʿAbbās; born 15 November 1935), also known by the kunya Abu Mazen ( ar, أَبُو مَازِن, links=no, ), is the president of the State of Palestine and the Palestinian Nati ...

, Qurei remained in office in a caretaker capacity until a successor was named.

Members of the Government

February 2005 to March 2006

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Palestinian Authority Government of 2005 02 Palestinian National Authority governments Cabinets disestablished in 2006 Cabinets established in 2005 2005 establishments in the Palestinian territories 2006 disestablishments in the Palestinian territories