MIDDLE EAST: Members of the Palestinian Legislative Council yesterday attended an emergency session to discuss how to resolve the government crisis precipitated by the resignation of the Prime Minister, Mr Ahmad Qurei. But the tense atmosphere of Wednesday seemed to have subsided with deputies from the the West Bank and Gaza carrying on reasoned debate over a live-television link.
Many from Gaza are not allowed by Israel to make the journey from the Strip across Israeli territory to the West Bank administrative capital of the Palestine National Authority.
Mr Hatem Abdel Kader, an independent deputy for Jerusalem, told The Irish Times the council had set up a committee of 13, to which he belongs, to negotiate with President Yasser Arafat, with the aim of convincing him to cede authority to the government and parliament. "He has all the power in his hands, this situation cannot go on," Mr Abdel Kader said.
"There is no point in forming a new government until it has authority." He also said the committee would see to the implementation of its reform resolution providing for the amalgamation of Mr Arafat's dozen-plus security agencies into three services, national (external), domestic and intelligence.
The new agencies would be placed under the control of the premier and interior ministers. Mr Abdel Kader said the committee, which could begin discussions with the president on Monday, has set a deadline of one month. If an agreement is not reached by then, the council will have to decide whether to go on strike, dissolve itself or take other action, he stated.
Dr Mustafa Barghouti, another council member and chairman of the Palestinian Medical Relief Committees, said there is "a profound crisis in the whole political system". The problem is "not just Arafat. We are not going to achieve success by reforming the system. Even the people complaining about Arafat refer to Arafat [when decisions must be made]. Disputes are between cliques. Eighty per cent of the people are outside [these groups]. It is an illusion to think that the persons in power can change the corrupt system. The only way to solve the problem is through direct elections for president, parliament and municipalities." He said only 1.1 per cent of people said they would vote for the present representatives.
Although many Palestinians agree with this assessment, Dr Ghassan Khatib, the minister of labour, said that elections are simply not possible in current circumstances.
"We convinced Arafat that elections are necessary and he agreed, expecting, of course, that there would be major changes [in the council membership] but he would remain in his post. We even convinced the Americans that there should be elections but Israel opposed elections and persuaded the US they would strengthen the Palestinian National Authority," which Israel and the US have tried to marginalise.
Dr Khatib added: "The cabinet crisis is silly. The prime minister did not enjoy the support of the cabinet when he took his decision to resign. The resignation will not solve the problems we face and it will not resolve the dispute in Gaza" which, he said concerns rivalries between different commanders in the security services.
Dr Khatib observed: "If Israel withdraws from Gaza it will create serious problems because Gaza will remain under siege. Israel will retain control of its borders, airspace and sea and certain military areas in Gaza but the Israelis will put the blame on the Palestinian Authority" when the situation there continues to deteriorate. The recent confrontations in Gaza are "an early warning of what will happen in case of [unilateral Israeli] withdrawal." He is not optimistic in the short term.
He thinks there will be "more of the same until the US elections and a little after. There will be more of the same as long as we have Sharon. Israel has worked gradually, systematically to narrow the space that the Palestinian Authority occupied. We have a quarter of a million unemployed. Israel's raids, assassinations and killings leave very little to Palestinian security."