Caretaker Prime Minister Salam Fayyad will dismiss members of his cabinet in the wake of a corruption scandal shaking the Ramallah-based Palestinian government, sources said on Tuesday.
Officials said President Mahmoud Abbas approved Fayyad's recommendations at a cabinet meeting on Monday, which Abbas chaired, and offered Interior Minister Said Abu Ali the position of chief of staff. Abu Ali, however, has since denied knowledge of the offer.
Meanwhile, the same sources said "more than one" cabinet member will be replaced in the coming shakeup, most likely Justice Minister Ali Khashan, Education Minister Lamis Al-Alami, and Agriculture Minister Ismail Deiq. However, no new portfolios were immediately announced, and the PA has refused to officially confirm its plans to reshuffle not only the cabinet, but also several positions inside the ministries and courts.
Earlier Tuesday, a high-ranking source who insisted on anonymity said the three ministers had already been dismissed, which the PA leadership has yet to deny. Palestinian officials have also refused to publicly confirm that Fayyad is moving forward with "major" changes to the government, including the elimination of entire ministries, following a series of accusations brought forth by a PA intelligence officer earlier this month.
Abbas dismissed his chief of staff, Rafiq Husseini, on Sunday following the leak of a videotape that apparently showed him propositioning a job applicant for sex in Ramallah. Husseini has maintained his innocence, but agreed to cooperate with a commission of inquiry to investigate allegations provided to an Israeli news network by Fahmi Shabana, the former head of the PA's anti-corruption department.
Shabana said he initiated a sting when the job applicant informed PA intelligence of Husseini's alleged misuse of his seniority in the US-backed government. The former PA official had vowed to expose even more serious allegations of corruption in the event Abbas fails to take action against high-ranking Palestinian officials allegedly involved in rampant corruption and other misdeeds.
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