First Arafat Government

First Arafat Government
1st Cabinet of Palestinian National Authority
Date formed	5 July 1994
Date dissolved	17 May 1996
People and organisations
Head of government	Yasser Arafat
Total no. of members	20
History
Successor	Second Arafat Government

The First Arafat Government was formed in 1994, when Yasser Arafat returned to Palestine, settling in Gaza City and promoted self-governance for the Palestinian territories. ^[1] The government was dissolved following the 1996 Palestinian general election.

Government Composition

Yasser Arafat's first government consisted of 20 ministries, 17 ministers (including one woman, Intissar al-Wazir). The positions of ministers of the Ministry of Public Works and the Ministry of Agriculture remained vacant, with a deputy minister appointed for each of them.

Members of the Government

S.No	Portrait	Name	Portfolio	Party	Remarks
1		Dr. Yasser Arafat [1]	President of the Palestinian National Authority and Minister of Interior	Fatah	Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization
2		Ahmed Qurei [2]	Minister of National Economy	Fatah	Member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization
3		Nabil Shaath [3] [4]	Minister of Planning and International Cooperation	Fatah
4		Saeb Erekat [5]	Minister of Local Government	Fatah
5		Riyad Deeb Salim Al-Za’noun	Minister of Health	Fatah
6		Freih Mustafa Freih Abu Madin	Minister of Justice	Fatah
7		Jamil Youssef Musleh Al-Tarifi	Minister of Civil Affairs	Fatah
8		Zakaria al-Agha	Minister of Housing	Fatah
9		Intissar al-Wazir	Minister of Social Affairs	Fatah
10		Yasser Abd Rabbo [6]	Minister of Culture	Palestinian Democratic Union	Member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization
11		Azmi Al-Shuaibi	Minister of Youth and Sports	Palestinian Democratic Union
12		Samir Ghawshah [7]	Minister of Labour	Palestinian Popular Struggle Front	Member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization
13		Mohammad Zuhdi Nashashibi [8]	Minister of Finance	Independent	Member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization
14		Yasser Amr	Minister of Education	Independent	Member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization
15		Abdul Aziz Al-Hajj	Minister of Transport	Independent
16		Abdul Hafeez Al-Ashhab	Minister of Communications	Independent
17		Elias Freij	Minister of Tourism	Independent
18		Hasan Tahboub [9]	Minister of Waqf and Religious Affairs	Independent
19		Vacant	Minister of Public Works
20		Vacant	Minister of Agriculture

References

1. Constitution of Palestine (1994) Wikisource 26 July 2006. Accessed on 7 November 2007
2. Architect of Self-Rule Apparently Leaves Arafat's Government. The New York Times, 18 September 1994
3. "Nabil Shaath". www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
4. "SADAKA Ireland hosted Dr. Nabil Shaath in Ireland as part of its Visiting Speaker Programme". www.sadaka.ie. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
5. 'Politics in Palestine', Palestinian National Authority: The PA Ministerial Cabinet List Emergency Cabinet, October 2003 – November 2003 Archived 15 August 2007 at the Wayback Machine , Jerusalem Media and Communication Centre.
6. "Abd Rabbo, Yasir", pp. 6–7. Michael R. Fischbach, Encyclopedia of the Palestinians. Infobase Publishing, 2005
7. Samir Ghousha, PPSF secretary-general and co-founder, dead at 72 Archived 27 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine . Ma'an News Agency . 2009-08-05.
8. "منظمات وشخصيات فلسطينية تنعى المناضل الوطني الكبير محمد زهدي النشاشيبي". www.amadps.org (in Arabic). 27 January 2020. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
9. "pmo.gov.ps". Archived from the original on 4 July 2008. Retrieved 10 January 2020.