Palestinian foreign minister of the caretaker government based in this West Bank city, Reyad al-Maliki, on Monday denied reports that President Mahmoud Abbas is intending to reshuffle the cabinet led by interim Prime Minister Sallam Fayyad.
"This is the tenth untrue report we have heard about, president Abbas trusts Fayyad's government, and his is not intending to change it," al-Maliki said in a written statement sent to the press.
Media reports had claimed that Abbas was planning to dismiss the current caretaker government of Fayyad and ask him to form a new wider cabinet that includes new members of Abbas' Fatah movement.
"There are attempts to spread such rumors by well-known parties in order to create confusion among the Palestinians," al-Maliki said.
"I accompanied President Abbas in the recent days and I didn't hear from him about it," he added.
The Palestinian caretaker government, led by West-backed Fayyad, was appointed by Abbas last June after he dismissed the Hamas-led unity government following a bloody infighting between Fatah and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Since then, the Palestinians have two governments -- one based in Ramallah and headed by Fayyad, and the deposed one based in Gaza City.
Abbas and Fayyad consider the deposed government led by Hamas leader Ismail Haneya in Gaza as "illegal," while the Hamas government in Gaza also finds Fayyad's caretaker government as "illegal."
Last June, Hamas militants routed Abbas' security forces and took control of the Gaza Strip.
Source: Xinhua
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