Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas agreed with top aides Saturday on "real" reforms in the ruling Fatah movement and to continue a crackdown on armed Palestinian gangs hampering efforts to restore stability to the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Abbas emerged from the closing session of three days of meetings of the 16-member Fatah Central Committee -- the first in more than 5 years -- to reiterate that Palestinians were "completely prepared" to take over control of Gaza following Israel's imminent pullout.
A Palestinian takeover will be "quiet, clean and respectful," Abbas told reporters before he embarked on a North African tour that will include stops in Mauritania and Libya.
He said the Fatah members also discussed appointing a vice president but no names were mentioned.
The Fatah meeting took place in Jordan so the largest possible number of committee members could attend, including exiled leaders who refuse to deal with Israel.
Nabil Shaath, a minister of information in the Palestinian Authority, said they agreed on "real reforms, to review the past and to establish new institutions." He said elections would be held in the ruling Fatah faction to allow the "young generation" to take part in the decision making.
He declined to discuss details on the planned reforms but said Palestinians may resort to a law which will scrutinize officials' private finances.
"The law of `where did you get this from,' will be implemented retroactively," he said. He did not say when the law will be enforced but stressed that his government was keen to "uproot corruption."
Separately, Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia said there was consensus on "regulating armament."
He did not elaborate. Shaath told a news conference later that the reference was to armed Palestinian gangs "who use weapons, not to defend the country, but for blackmailing and killing."
Armed gangs, some affiliated with the mainstream Fatah, rule the streets of the West Bank and Gaza. Palestinian security forces lost control of their streets during four years of Palestinian-Israeli violence.
Shaath said Fatah leaders established a committee to "consolidate dialogue" with different factions, including militant groups like Hamas and the Islamic Jihad.
"We welcomed the participation of the Palestinian factions in a coalition government to unify the efforts after Israel's withdrawal from Gaza," he said.
In the West Bank city of Ramallah on Saturday, Abbas office confirmed that the Palestinian leader has asked Hamas militants to join his Cabinet to improve prospects of a peaceful takeover of Gaza following Israel's withdrawal. Hamas' West Bank leader, Hassan Yousef, said the group was considering the offer.
He said Fatah leaders also have overcome differences between the Foreign Ministry and the Palestinian Liberation Organization's political office, headed by Farouk Kaddoumi.
Drug lord Jose Adolfo Macias Villamar, alias “Fito,” was Ecuador’s most-wanted fugitive before his arrest on Wednesday, more than a year after he escaped prison from where he commanded the country’s leading criminal gang. The former taxi driver turned crime boss became the prime target of law enforcement early last year after escaping from a prison in the southwestern port of Guayaquil. Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa’s government released “wanted” posters with images of his face and offered US$1 million for information leading to his capture. In a country plagued by crime, members of Fito’s gang, Los Choneros, have responded with violence, using car
OVERHAUL: The move would likely mark the end to Voice of America, which was founded in 1942 to counter Nazi propaganda and operated in nearly 50 languages The parent agency of Voice of America (VOA) on Friday said it had issued termination notices to more than 639 more staff, completing an 85 percent decrease in personnel since March and effectively spelling the end of a broadcasting network founded to counter Nazi propaganda. US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) senior advisor Kari Lake said the staff reduction meant 1,400 positions had been eliminated as part of US President Donald Trump’s agenda to cut staffing at the agency to a statutory minimum. “Reduction in Force Termination Notices were sent to 639 employees at USAGM and Voice of America, part of a
Canada and the EU on Monday signed a defense and security pact as the transatlantic partners seek to better confront Russia, with worries over Washington’s reliability under US President Donald Trump. The deal was announced after a summit in Brussels between Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa. “While NATO remains the cornerstone of our collective defense, this partnership will allow us to strengthen our preparedness ... to invest more and to invest smarter,” Costa told a news conference. “It opens new opportunities for companies on both sides of the
The team behind the long-awaited Vera Rubin Observatory in Chile yesterday published their first images, revealing breathtaking views of star-forming regions as well as distant galaxies. More than two decades in the making, the giant US-funded telescope sits perched at the summit of Cerro Pachon in central Chile, where dark skies and dry air provide ideal conditions for observing the cosmos. One of the debut images is a composite of 678 exposures taken over just seven hours, capturing the Trifid Nebula and the Lagoon Nebula — both several thousand light-years from Earth — glowing in vivid pinks against orange-red backdrops. The new image