Palestinian President Yasser Arafat reduced his cabinet on Sunday to 21 ministers from 31 as part of a plan to reform the Palestinian Authority, a senior Palestinian official said.
"This government has been reduced to 21 members for 21 ministries," Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo told reporters at a news conference in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
"Some ministries were merged together and others were introduced and the number of ministers was trimmed," Abed Rabbo said, according to Reuters. "This transitional government will have the task of preparing the municipal, legislative and presidential elections, slated for the end of 2002 and the start of 2003," he added.
Abed Rabbo said the new cabinet would hold its first meeting on Monday.
Four ministries will have new names including the Ministry of Finance, which will be headed by Salam Fayyad, former official with International Monetary Fund. He will face the task of cleaning up an authority dogged by charges of corruption and lack of transparency.
Major players such as Nabil Shaath (international cooperation), Saeb Erakat, (local government) and Maher Masri (economy) will remain.
Among the changes announced Sunday in Ramallah was the creation on a new post, that of interior minister.
General Ahmed Razak Yehiyeh will head this Ministry instead of Arafat. Dr. Samir Ghosheh, a member of the PLO Executive Committee and affiliated with the Islamist movement, was also appointed as a Cabinet minister.
Earlier, it was reported that Agriculture Minister Hikmat Zeid and State Ministers Hassan Asfour and Ziyad Abu Zayad would leave the Cabinet, according to the newspaper.
For their part, Hamas and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) slammed the reforms as superficial. The DFLP demanded Arafat set a date for presidential and parliamentary elections. Both groups were invited to join the new cabinet but declined. Hamas condemned the new Palestinian cabinet, saying the appointments were a product of U.S. intervention and would not reduce domestic corruption. (Albawaba.com)
