MIDDLE EAST: Putting on a smiling show of unity in the battered surroundings of the Palestinian Authority's Ramallah headquarters yesterday, Prime Minister Mr Ahmed Qurei clasped hands with his boss, President Yasser Arafat, and announced that he had rescinded his resignation, writes David Horovitz in Jerusalem
The public display of reconciliation, which included a kiss on the cheek by the president for the prime minister, followed Mr Arafat's apparent decision to delegate to Mr Qurei authority over some of the PA's numerous security apparatuses, while retaining control of most of them himself.
Both men, Palestinian officials said, share an interest in trying to dampen protests in the Gaza Strip against PA corruption and the deteriorating security situation. The protests, although continuing, have declined from their peak of 11 days ago, when there were a flurry of kidnappings and intermittent intra-Palestinian fighting. A 17-year-old Gaza youth died yesterday of injuries sustained in that fighting.
With advisers and supporters all around him, Mr Arafat indicated the leadership crisis was over, and said he and his "beloved" Mr Qurei (also known as Abu Ala) were "unifying our ranks to face up to all the challenges."
Mr Qurei, who had been intimating since resigning that he could yet be won around, said Mr Arafat had refused to accept his resignation and so he would stay on. "I'm not going to bargain with the president about authority over the security branches," he said, even though he had been doing precisely that. Their new arrangement, he went on, "is a new step toward reform and imposing the rule of law. There will be actions on the ground."
A key test will be whether Mr Arafat now replaces his cousin, Mr Mousa Arafat, cited by critics as a symbol of PA corruption, as head of security in Gaza, and whether a credible new interior minister, with real authority over the security forces, is appointed.
Meanwhile, the Israeli army said it was investigating the death on Monday of a 12-year-old Palestinian girl in the Gaza town of Khan Younis. Palestinian sources said she was hit by Israeli gunfire.