Top aide to Abbas resigns over cellphone smuggling affair

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
A top aide to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has announced he is resigning over a smuggling affair. Rauhi Fattouh says he is assuming moral responsibility for the incident in which 3,000 contraband cellphones were found in the trunk of his car. The cellphones were spotted at an Israeli-controlled border crossing into the West Bank last month. Fattouh's driver has been charged with smuggling. He told a news conference Monday that he was unaware of the smuggling but assumes moral responsibility. Fattouh says he is resigning from his job as Abbas envoy, but may return to politics in the future.