RAMALLAH, 3 September 2003 — The European Union has expressed “deep concern” about the power struggle between Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and Premier Mahmoud Abbas, officials in the two leaders’ ruling Fatah party said yesterday.
EU foreign policy and security chief Javier Solana called Palestinian Parliament Speaker Ahmed Qurei on Monday and expressed his concern that the power struggle could harm the peace process with Israel. Earlier Qurei received a call from German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer on the same matter, said the sources. Qurei has spoken of the matter openly and critically in the last two days, saying the dispute between Abbas and Arafat had reached such an intensity that they cannot work jointly.
“These two have reached a point they seem unable to work together,” he was quoted as saying, adding, “neither one can work alone and neither one seems able to work with the other.” He called on both leaders to put their differences aside and focus on the ongoing Israeli military operations against the Palestinians.
“The Palestinian people are unable to understand or accept their differences any more,” Qurei was quoted as saying. Qurei said he was leading intensive efforts to end the differences between Arafat and Abbas, the latest of which focuses on who should control the Palestinian security forces.
Palestinian academics and politicians issued a statement addressed to both Arafat and Abbas echoing Qurei’s calls. Titled “Enough”, the statement urged them to put their differences aside. “Our wounded homeland does not want to see more internal power struggle”, it said. Arafat has asked his Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Executive Committee and Fatah Central Council to convene tonight at his office to continue discussions started last week on the Israeli strikes against militants in the Gaza Strip and on the internal differences.
Arafat last spring reluctantly appointed Abbas, his deputy in the PLO and Fatah, as the first-ever Palestinian premier, following heavy international pressure to carry out democratic reforms in return for active support of Palestinian statehood. Arafat however has been unwilling to cede much of his power to Abbas.
Solana meanwhile met Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus yesterday for talks on the US-backed road map peace plan for the Middle East. A press release issued by the European Commission in Damascus said Solana will work with key regional actors to try and recreate momentum for the peace process on the basis of the road map.
