2 Ministers Quit Palestinian Cabinet

Hanan Mikhail-Ashrawi resigned from the Palestinian self-rule government, criticizing Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat over corruption and the handling of peace talks with Israel. Another Cabinet minister, Abdel Jawad Saleh, also resigned. Ashrawi, the minister of higher education, said she declined the new post of tourism minister in Arafat’s newly reshuffled Cabinet because “comprehensive reform was not addressed in this new government formulation.” Saleh also mentioned the corruption issue as a reason for his resignation.