MIDDLE EAST: The on-off confidence vote in the government of Mr Mahmoud Abbas, scheduled for today, appeared off again last night, writes Peter Hirschberg Jerusalem
Palestinian officials scurried between the Prime Minister and Palestinian Authority President Mr Yasser Arafat in a bid to head off a showdown between the two that would likely end in the ousting of Mr Abbas.
The speaker of the parliament, Mr Ahmed Qureia (also known as Abu Ala), announced yesterday evening that a confidence vote would not be held after Mr Abbas addresses the parliament today on his first 100 days in office.
"Parliament will not accept being turned into a place of conflict or to be part of the current crisis," Mr Qureia said, referring to the Abbas-Arafat feud.
Earlier, the Palestinian Information Minister, Mr Nabil Amr, was quoted by Reuters as saying that Mr Abbas would resign unless parliament afforded him full authority to take steps in the areas of security and diplomacy. An hour later he denied having made the remarks, and sources close to Mr Abbas said he had no intention of resigning.
A vote could still be held if more than half of the 83 council members demand one. With many legislators critical of Mr Abbas, he would likely lose a confidence vote, resulting in the toppling of his government. That would be a fatal blow to the US-backed road map peace plan.
Mr Abbas has so far failed in two of his main goals - getting militants to stick to a ceasefire and extracting substantive concessions from his Israeli counterpart, Mr Ariel Sharon.
The conflict between Mr Abbas and Mr Arafat, who has always viewed the creation of the post of Prime Minister as a bid to erode his powers, has intensified in recent weeks over the Prime Minister's demand for all Palestinian security forces to be united under a single command - that of Security Affairs Minister Mr Mohammed Dahlan, who is allied to Mr Abbas.
But Mr Arafat, who controls 60 per cent of the security forces, has been loathe to relinquish them, fearing this would undermine one of his sources of power.
The US has been pressuring Palestinian legislators in a bid to ensure Mr Abbas, who was appointed by Mr Arafat this year, is not toppled. If he goes, US officials have said, then the Bush administration will withdraw support for the road map.
However some Palestinian officials say US intervention on behalf of Mr Abbas would only hasten his demise since it paints him as a collaborator with the US.
Israeli fighter planes yesterday destroyed a Hizbullah anti-aircraft cannon in south Lebanon after shells fired by the Iranian-backed Shia group at Israeli planes making reconnaissance overflights landed in Israel. The shells did not cause damage.