RAMALLAH, West Bank — The article by Jihad al-Khazen in the London-based Al-Hayat published June 12 and titled “A Gulf Opinion on Obama and the Palestinian Cause” has provoked silent controversy between the Palestinian Authority and the United Arab Emirates. Khazen quoted a Gulf official, without mentioning who he was, saying, “The PA ought to retire because it is a mixture of failure and corruption and is unreliable.”

Khazen continued, quoting the same official, “The UAE has stopped all aid to the PA because the latter had accused it [the UAE] of money laundering through an association in the West Bank, run by former Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. The UAE demands an apology from the PA for such accusations."

The official Palestinian news agency Wafa attacked Khazen on June 14 in an article titled “Jihad al-Khazen, the eyes and ears of indecency." It reported, “The Gulf official mentioned in the article is Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, whom the agency [Wafa] called upon to categorically deny the statements of the [Al-Hayat] article.”

In a June 15 statement, Fatah demanded Zayed take an explicit stance on Khazen’s article in Al-Hayat, yet Zayed did not issue any response or explanation.