Council of Ministers (Palestine)

The Council of Ministers of the Palestinian Arab Republic (Arabic: مجلس وزراء الجمهورية العربية الفلسطينية majlis wuzrā’ al-jumhūriyah al-arabīyah al-falasṭīnīyah), informally known as the Palestinian government (الحكومة الفلسطينية al-ḥukūmah al-falasṭīnīyah), is the highest executive authority in the Palestinian Arab Republic, one of the 20 republics of the Arab Union. The Council of Ministers oversees over thirty unique ministries and state committees, whose responsible executives are nominated by the Premier of Palestine and confirmed by the Palestine Arab Congress, which is also responsible for electing the premier. The Palestinian government has jurisdiction over the vast majority of the republic's domestic affairs, including but not limited to the domestic economy and labour force (such as assessing claims for workplace injury, disability, unemployment and/or retirement benefits), calculating the republic's unemployment rate and developing initiatives aimed at its lowering, and providing subsidies and grants to new commercial and industrial startups; agriculture and fisheries, such as donating modern implements to struggling farms and subsidising the amalgamation of multiple farms into collective farms incorporated as employee-owned cooperatives; maintaining hygiene and food safety standards throughout all stages of food production, packing and sale; consumer protection, including consumer rights advocacy, product safety standards and testing, and antitrust laws; law enforcement activities including local and regional policing, major crimes investigations, corrections and criminal transport, security at all domestic airports and train stations; road, rail and sea transportation, including an operative accreditation and supervisory service, and the maintenance of all related infrastructure; maintenance of natural gas infrastructure, electric and hydroelectric power and all other forms of energy production and related infrastructure (excluding nuclear energy which is the responsibility of the federal National Nuclear Energy Institute); and finally policy concerning natural resources such as oil and gas extraction and environmental protection/climate change.