RAMALLAH, West Bank ? Nearly half of the 24 ministers joining a new Palestinian Cabinet on Thursday hold doctorates — many earned at top universities in the United States or elsewhere in the West.

The new lineup of doctors, lawyers, engineers and economists embrace a one-word credo — reform — in contrast to the outgoing body of Yasser Arafat cronies.

After swearing in his new ministers late Thursday, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said, “They are young and professional. … We have chosen them very carefully.”

The Cabinet revolution, spurred by lawmakers’ demand for a clean sweep of Arafat’s corruption-plagued regime, signaled the decade-old Palestinian Authority is ready for a new era.

The Cabinet has an economist heading the Finance Ministry, a physician as health minister and a statistician as labor minister. By contrast, the outgoing Cabinet featured an Arafat ally as interior minister and a local affairs minister who purportedly became rich skimming government contracts.

The new Cabinet reflected the priorities of Abbas, who has pledged to clean up Palestinian politics as he embarks on a renewed peace track with Israel after four years of bloody conflict.

The Palestinian Legislative Council approved the new Cabinet Thursday by a vote of 54-12.

Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia, center, celebrates with newly appointed parliament speaker Rauhi Fattouh, left, and Deputy Prime Minister Nabil Shaath after the Palestinian Legislative Council voted to approve the new Cabinet. The new Cabinet, dominated by professional appointees, reflects a move toward long-promised Palestinian government reform.

“It’s a turning point in the rationale, the approach and the methodology of forming Cabinets, in going beyond political patronage … and to look for people who can deliver,” said legislator Hanan Ashrawi, who has long clamored for reform.

Legislators led by rebels from the ruling Fatah Party rejected two earlier lists presented by Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia, insisting on new faces. The legislators themselves had plenty to fear — polls show consistently that Palestinian voters are fed up with their government, raising the prospect of a first-ever Fatah defeat in parliamentary elections set for July.

Since he won a Jan. 9 election to replace Arafat, who died Nov. 11, Abbas has been sweeping with a wide broom. He cajoled Palestinian militant groups to stop attacks against Israel, at least temporarily.