Ministry of Interior (Palestine)

The Ministry of Interior and National Security is the branch of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) cabinet in charge of the security and the statistics of the population of the State of Palestine. The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) is a sub-branch of the Interior Ministry that has the responsibility for the population and economic statistics of the Palestinian territories. Since Hamas' takeover of Gaza, the position of the Interior Ministry within the Palestinian Security Services is unclear.

Ministry of Interior and National Security
Agency overview
وزارة الداخلية والأمن الوطني
Seal of Palestine
Formed	1994
Jurisdiction	Government of Palestine
Headquarters	Ramallah, Palestine Other location: Abu Dis, Jerusalem Governorate, Palestine
Minister responsible	Ziad Hab al-Rih (ar), Minister of Interior and National Security
Child agencies	Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics Palestinian Civil Police Force

History

In 2006, the Israeli Defense Forces struck the office building of the Interior Ministry multiple times as a part of a bombing campaign in Gaza. The attacks were in response to the kidnapping of Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier.

In June 2007, the office in Gaza was taken by Said Seyam as part of the Hamas government of June 2007. Hamas' takeover of Gaza left the Ramallah-based version of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) as the Palestinian leadership in only the occupied West Bank and a Hamas-led government in control of the Gaza Strip.

Fathi Hamad took office in January 2009, following assassination of Said Seyam on 15 January 2009 during the Gaza War. In August 2012, following government reshuffle by Prime Minister Ismail Haniyye, Fathi Hamad remained in position.

Function

The ministry is in charge of the security and statistics of the people in the Gaza Strip.

The Interior Minister also leads the Hamas Public Affairs Department and is the director of Al-Aqsa TV, the Hamas-run television station.

List of ministers

Interior Ministers of the Palestinian Authority

#	Name	Party	Governments	Term start	Term end	Notes
1	Yasser Arafat	Fatah	1, 2, 3	5 July 1994	13 June 2002	Serving Prime Minister
2	Abdel Razak al-Yehiyeh	PLO/Independent	4	13 June 2002	29 October 2002
3	Hani al-Hassan	Fatah	5	29 October 2002	30 April 2003
4	Mahmoud Abbas*	Fatah	6	30 April 2003	6 September 2003	Serving Prime Minister
—	Nasser Yousef (ar) was nominated, but not appointed. *	Fatah	7	7 October 2003	12 November 2003
5	Hakam Balawi	Fatah	7, 8	13 October 2003 (acting) 12 November 2003	12 November 2003 (acting) 24 February 2005
6	Nasser Yousef (ar)	Fatah	9	24 February 2005	29 March 2006
7	Said Seyam	Hamas	10	29 March 2006	17 March 2007
8	Hani Talab al-Qawasmi ****	Hamas/Independent (unity government)	11	17 March 2007	23 April 2007
9	Ismail Haniyeh	Hamas	11	23 April 2007	14 June 2007	Serving Prime Minister
—	Parallel governments
12	Rami Hamdallah	Fatah/Independent (unity government)	17	2 June 2014	14 April 2019	Serving Prime Minister
13	Mohammad Shtayyeh	Fatah	18	13 April 2019	1 January 2022	Serving Prime Minister
14	Ziad Hab al-Rih (ar)	Fatah	18, 19	1 January 2022	Incumbent
* Mohammed Dahlan, former Preventive Security Director in the Gaza Strip became Minister of State for Security Affairs Emergency government appointed by Presidential Decree * Yousef refused to be sworn in without a vote of confidence from the PLC **** al-Qawasmi resigned on 23 April 2007 over lack of support for his reform plans for the security services.

Interior Ministers in the West Bank

#	Name	Party	Governments	Term start	Term end	Notes
10	Abdel Razak al-Yehiyeh	PLO/Independent	12	15 June 2007	19 May 2009
11	Saeed Abu Ali	Fatah	13, 14, 15, 16	19 May 2009	2 June 2014

Interior and National Security Ministers in the Gaza Strip

#	Name	Party	Term start	Term end	Notes
1	Said Seyam	Hamas	15 June 2007	15 January 2009
2	Fathi Hamad	Hamas	April 2009	2 June 2014