Wadah Khanfar‘s apparent ousting from the board of Al Jazeera came after intervention by Mahmud Abbas and an Arab intelligence service. At least that’s the story that ran earlier this month in Jordanian magazine Al-Majd.

The Jordanian weekly’s sources have this to say:

…the removal of Khanfar from the Al-Jazeera board of directors was the first step towards removing him from his position as director general of the network … his removal came in response to outside US and Palestinian pressure … the Americans and the Palestinians accused Khanfar of empathizing with the Muslim Brotherhood in general and with the Palestinian Hamas Movement in particular.

An official close to Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas visited Doha recently and handed Qatari officials a security dossier on Wadah Khanfar…an Arab intelligence service delivered to Qatar a similar dossier that proves Khanfar’s association with the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas.

Khanfar had been criticized in the local, state-controlled Qatari media for refusing to appoint Qataris to key roles. One of the new directors is a former editor of Al Jazeera’s website, who Khanfar apparently moved from the post.

Al-Majd claimed Al Jazeera coverage has shifted recently to a more pro-Fatah stance.

The board shake-up came in mid-May. Danny Schechter had the Al-Majd story on 12 June.

Possible Khanfar replacements? Some people apparently got to work early. On 19 May this story ran on Algerian website Echorouk Online:

According to well-informed sources, the Algerian presenter Khadija Ben Guena is among the candidates for replacing Wadah Khanfar, the general manager of Al Jazeera TV channel…

According to reliable sources, Sheikha Moza the Qatari prince’s wife is intent on appointing Khadija Ben Guena as the new general manager of Al Jazeera TV channel.

It’s worth recalling that Khadija Ben Guena interviewed Sheikha Moza, a few days ago in a talk-show broadcast by Al Jazeera channel.

There’s more blogospheric speculation about Khanfar here, this time in respect of Iran.