GAZA, June 9 (UPI) -- Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat Sunday issued an order to reshuffle the Palestinian Authority cabinet, Yasser Abed Rabbo, minister of media and information, said.
The new cabinet, consisting of 21 new ministers, is "a government of emergency," Abed Rabbo said in a news conference held in the Palestinian media center in the West Bank town of Ramallah. Several ministers were cut in the cabinet reshuffle, a measure that will lower costs, Abed Rabbo said.
At the same time, new presidential and local elections are expected around the end of the year, Saeb Erekat, a key Palestinian peace negotiator, told CNN.
President George W. Bush in May called on Palestinians to crack down on corruption and curb terrorism. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has said he will not have peace talks with Palestinians until the Palestinian Authority was reorganized.
Dore Gold, a senior Sharon adviser, told CNN Sunday that Israelis had tremendous doubts that a cabinet reshuffle would help bring peace to the Middle East. Scores of Israelis and Palestinians have been killed in recent months in suicide bombings and retaliatory attacks.
Arafat's announcement comes as Sharon is getting ready to talk with Bush in the United States.
"We hope that the world's countries, Arab and foreign, help the new government to do its job and help end the Israeli military siege, isolation and closure imposed on Palestinian territories," Abed Rabbo said.
