RAMALLAH, West Bank, 5 November 2003 — A power struggle between Yasser Arafat and his prime minister yesterday blocked plans to form a new Palestinian government and threatened to delay renewed peace moves between Israel and the Palestinians.
Barring last-minute resolution of the Palestinian political infighting, Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei was expected to miss a deadline of midnight last night to announce his lineup of ministers to replace his 30-day emergency Cabinet.
Arafat extended the term of Qorei’s eight-member Cabinet, transforming it into a caretaker government, to allow more time to overcome sharp disagreement on division of security powers.
The delay threatened to hold up renewed high-level talks proposed by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon aimed at restarting a stalled, US-backed “road map” to peace.
Israeli media reports had said earlier that Sharon and Qorei could meet as early as this weekend, though there is skepticism on both sides about the prospects for significant progress after three years of Israeli-Palestinian bloodshed.
At stake in the power struggle between Arafat and Qorei is who will have control of security services seen as vital for meeting the road map’s requirement for Palestinians to rein in militant attacks on Israel.
Arafat, the 74-year-old symbol of Palestinian nationalism, opposes Qorei’s nomination of Gen. Nasser Yousef as interior minister with control over security forces - authority which the Palestinian president has been reluctant to give up.
Qorei acknowledged the problem yesterday after meeting his emergency Cabinet but insisted he would be ready to seek parliamentary approval for his new government next week.
“A session for the Palestinian Legislative Council will convene next week for a confidence vote,” Qorei told reporters in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
Arafat aide Nabil Abu Rudeina told Reuters the president had asked Qorei “to continue with his work and to consider the current cabinet as a caretaker until a new cabinet is formed”.
Qorei’s predecessor, Mahmoud Abbas, resigned in September following a similar dispute with Arafat over security powers. Cabinet member Saeb Erekat, who is close to Arafat, predicted that Qorei’s government would act in a caretaker role for two to three days and no more than a week past the deadline.
Hassan Abu Libdeh, director of Qorei’s office, said earlier that the prime minister wanted his Interior Ministry to have strong security credentials, as his first order of business will be to persuade militants to halt attacks on Israelis.
If Qorei caves in to Arafat, it would likely anger the United States and Israel, which have accused the Palestinian president of fomenting anti-Israel violence — an allegation he denies — and have tried to sideline him.
Efforts to revive the road map depend in part on Qorei forming a stable government after months of infighting.
By forming a permanent government, Qorei would meet a key demand of the “road map”, which calls on the Palestinians to implement reforms and stop militant attacks and demands that Israel stop building in Jewish settlements on occupied land.
Despite the obstacles Qorei faces, Israel sounded a note of cautious optimism about the prospects for renewing dialogue.
Sharon was quoted as telling reporters in Moscow, where he had talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, that he hoped to see a new Palestinian leadership that could “act with us to honestly implement the road map”.
