RAMALLAH, West Bank, 19 March 2003 — The Palestinian Parliament yesterday passed a bill creating a new post of prime minister after rejecting changes suggested by Palestinian President Yasser Arafat which would have boosted his grip on power. The Palestine Legislative Council voted by 69 votes in favor to one against, with one abstention, to appoint the premier with the powers that were defined in a landmark session last week.
Mahmoud Abbas, the second in command of the Palestine Liberation Organization, has been nominated as premier but has not said whether the powers attached to the post will be enough to lure him into accepting the job, which he wants to use to launch substantive reforms.
The bill approved last week gives the prime minister control over domestic and internal security issues but leaves foreign policy and national security in Arafat’s hands. The Parliament had adjourned on Monday after Arafat loyalists failed to push through an amended version of the law under which the Palestinian leader would retain the right to hire or fire ministers.
Reformist lawmakers challenged Arafat’s autocratic hold on power when they blocked the changes he had proposed from being passed as an integral part of the bill. Under the compromise reached yesterday, an interpretative memorandum was attached to the bill stipulating that any new Cabinet would be presented to the head of the Palestinian Authority, officials said.
It did not specify if Arafat would have the right to appoint or dismiss ministers, officials said. Arafat withdrew the amendments after consulting with his Fatah faction, which worked out Tuesday’s compromise.
The move was welcomed as a breakthrough by reformers, including those inside Fatah, the movement Arafat founded more than 30 years ago with Abbas. Fatah deputy Qaddura Fares said he was pleased with the move. “This is the start of a new political democratic system that will allow the separation of powers. We know the powers approved for the prime minister will allow him to form a government without intervention.”
Fares said because changes were only affixed as a memorandum and had not been voted into the bill, “it will have no direct effect” on the formation of a Cabinet. Arafat’s secretary Tayeb Abdelrahim thanked the legislators on the Palestinian leader’s behalf and said it was time for both sides to start working to end the deadly conflict with Israel.
“Now we are waiting for the parties involved in the peace process to move forward and start work to end the Israeli occupation and aggression against the Palestinian people,” he told the assembly.
In a bid to boost the cause of reform, US Secretary of State Colin Powell on Sunday said he would invite the new premier to Washington for talks, by far the most generous offer made by the US administration in months.
Meanwhile, Israeli troops yesterday killed a second senior Hamas activist in an operation in the West Bank, hours after slaying a man thought to be a top member of the Islamic group’s armed wing, the army said in a statement in Jerusalem. The army said it was trying to arrest Nasser Assideh in the village of Al-Funduq, between Nablus and Qalqilya, when he opened fire. The soldiers returned fire and killed him, the statement said.
