RAMALLAH Ñ The joint resignation of Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat's cabinet spared the humiliation of a vote of no-confidence and constituted a significant political defeat, analysts said.
Palestinian sources said the vote against Arafat was a signal by at
least 57 out of 88 legislators for the PA chairman to agree to the
appointment of a prime minister and end his one-man rule. They said the
Fatah Central Council had
approached Arafat's key aide, Mahmoud Abbas, in late August to submit his
candidacy.
Arafat was forced to disband his 21-member Cabinet on Wednesday when
Palestinian legislators refused to approve a motion of confidence. Arafat
now has two weeks to present a new Cabinet to the Palestinian Legislative
Council.
"For years, we have thought that the chairman requires strategic
ministers and should not deal with daily tasks," Palestinian legislator
Khaddoura Fares said. "We are talking of the need of new leadership, rather
than just one man."
Israeli and Palestinian analysts said Arafat's authority was undermined
by members of his ruling Fatah movement. They said the legislators resisted
appeals, cajoling and threats to shelve a motion of no confidence in the
Cabinet.
At the last minute, Arafat's Cabinet resigned and thus spared the vote.
Many of the legislators applauded the announcement that the Cabinet had
resigned.
Israeli analysts and officials termed the vote against Arafat as an
historic development and said Israel's intelligence community had predicted
the confrontation at the legislature. They said Arafat will probably face a
galvanized and growing opposition within the Fatah movement that wants to
reduce his authority.
"This is one of the biggest blows that Arafat has sustained until now
and it was done by his people," Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin
Ben-Eliezer said.
Israeli military intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Aharon Zeevi-Farkash
agreed. The general said he could not predict short-term development,
asserting that much depends on the reaction of Israel and the United States.
"It is a slow, deep and staged process," Zeevi-Farkash said. "It depends
a lot on us, a
lot on the United States and the U.S. attack on Iraq."
Arafat announced that presidential and parliamentary elections would
take place on Jan. 20. But Palestinian sources said opposition legislators
reject this announcement and want a prime minister to whittle away Arafat's
authority before elections are held.
PA officials blamed Israel and the United States for Arafat's defeat.
They said both countries want to undermine Arafat to ensure he cannot win
another election under his current authority.
"The only obstacle to the elections is not an internal one, it is Israel
and the United States, who do not want elections because they don't want a
strengthening of the Palestinian national leadership," PA Information
Minister Yasser Abbed Rabbo said.
At the same time, Israel has tried to bolster some ministers within the
PA. Ben-Eliezer halted military prosecution of the son of PA Civil Affairs
Minister Jamil Tarifi, who was charged with arms smuggling from Jordan to
the West Bank. Tarifi himself was said to have been involved in the
smuggling and his son was released from an Israeli prison.
