Meanwhile, Jordanian Prime Minister Faisal Al-Fayez will reshuffle his Cabinet in coming days to strengthen his hand in tackling a vocal Islamist opposition, while keeping pro-Western reformists in place, officials said yesterday. Several ministerial posts will be eradicated in the reshuffle expected to affect at least 10 ministries in the 20-member Cabinet, which includes three women ministers, officials said. They said pro-reformists would remain in office. Officials say a new reshuffled Cabinet could be sworn in as early as tomorrow and will help Fayez counter the Islamist opposition with 17 seats in a tribal Parliament.
Fayez, the son of a tribal leader with traditionally close ties to the monarchy, was appointed from within the palace entourage, unlike past premiers drawn from the civil service. The expected revamp is seen as an attempt to revitalize the Cabinet after criticism by liberal Jordanians for its failure to make the sweeping political and economic liberalization changes they wanted in the new post-Iraq war climate. With rising bloodshed in neighboring Iraq and across the kingdom's western borders, Fayez is worried Islamists will step up a campaign to incite attacks on its pro-Western polices and whip up anti-US sentiment that could encourage violence.
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