Abbas aide says bedroom tape was blackmail

A SENIOR Palestinian figure caught in an apparent sex-for-influence case has accused a former West Bank intelligence officer of conspiring with Israel to blackmail him financially and politically.

Rafiq Husseini, chief of staff of President Mahmoud Abbas, has been dismissed and a commission appointed to investigate allegations of corruption.

Last week Israeli television carried a video clip of Mr Husseini undressing, getting into bed and calling out to an unseen woman to join him. The tape was made by ex-intelligence officer Fahmi Shabaneh with the co-operation of the woman, who claimed she had been propositioned by Mr Husseini when requesting assistance in resolving a problem.

Mr Shabaneh also says he can document extensive corruption in the Palestinian Authority.

Although rumours about Mr Husseini have been circulating for months, the broadcast of the video has embarrassed Mr Abbas and shocked conservative Palestinian society. The threat to release documents detailing top-level corruption could undermine prime minister Salam Fayyad, who has promised clean government.

Meanwhile in Gaza, British documentary film-maker Paul Martin was remanded in custody for 15 days on suspicion of damaging the security of the territory. He was arrested while appearing at a military court on behalf of Muhammad Abu Muailik, a former Fatah radical held for “collaborating with Israel”.

Interior ministry spokesman Ehab Ghossein said he had implicated Martin, who had, reportedly, been searching for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, held by Hamas affiliates since 2006.

Martin met British consular representatives and contacted a lawyer. He is the first foreign journalist to be arrested in Gaza since Hamas took power in 2007.

Meanwhile, 13 Palestinian factions have met to discuss reconciliation. The presence of Fatah and Hamas suggests a warming of relations, ruptured since Hamas seized power in Gaza in 2007.

Last month, Fatah central council member Nabil Shaath held talks with de facto prime minister Ismail Haniyeh and Hamas negotiator Mahoud Zahar. Dr Shaath pressed for an end to the Fatah-Hamas rift before the Arab summit at the end of March.

Speaking to schoolchildren, retiring US congressman Brian Baird, a Democrat, called on the Obama administration to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza by delivering medical and food supplies and construction materials by sea, and to send envoy George Mitchell to assess the destruction wrought by Israel’s military campaign which began in December 2008.