Rafiq Husseini, as recorded in a leaked videotape
The video at the centre of one of the most sordid sex scandals to hit the Palestinian territories begins with the chief of staff to President Abbas undressing and climbing into bed. He then calls out to an unseen woman: “Do I turn off the light or do you? What is the procedure?”
The clip, which allegedly shows Rafiq Husseini soliciting sex from a prospective job applicant, has caused an uproar in the deeply conservative Palestinian society, resulting in Mr Husseini’s suspension from his position as a top aide to Mr Abbas.
The President also announced that a commission appointed by the Palestinian Authority (PA) in Ramallah would investigate allegations that his former aide had used his post to bully women into sexual relationships.
Mr Husseini issued a statement insisting that the scandal was a conspiracy “planned by two parties” against him, alluding to the PA and Israel.
Officials fear that the episode may reverse years of work by the Fatah party to clean up its public image after a number of sex scandals over the past 20 years. Some of the “evidence” against officials has consisted of little more than a photograph of a man and woman holding hands or a letter asking for a kiss. “These are small things to the West but, to us, they are sexual exploits not to be tolerated,” one Fatah official said.
The video of Mr Husseini was taped by Fahmi Shabaneh, a former Palestinian intelligence official.
“This is a great shame to the Palestinian people. It was clear this man would use his position in a corrupt way ... He is a womaniser,” he said.
Mr Shabaneh showed The Times text messages allegedly sent by Mr Husseini from his phone to another woman whom he was trying to persuade to have an affair. Over several weeks Mr Husseini allegedly laid down a “procedure” by which he would seduce her on a sofa with “soft kisses all over the body”.
Mr Shabaneh said that the woman never met Mr Husseini but responded to the texts in his presence to build a sexual harassment case.
He has also collected “evidence” of embezzlement of public funds within the PA — leading the authority to issue an arrest warrant for him on suspicion of collaborating with Israel.
Copyright 2010 Times Newspapers Ltd.
