RAMALLAH, West Bank, 20 March 2003 — Palestinian President Yasser Arafat yesterday officially asked his moderate PLO deputy Mahmoud Abbas to become prime minister a day after Parliament approved the creation of the post, a top Arafat aide said here. Nabil Abu Rudeina said that presidential secretary Tayeb Abdelrahim had asked Abbas on the veteran leader’s behalf to take the job of prime minister and share power with the head of the Palestinian Authority.
“Arafat contacted Abu Mazen today to officially ask him to begin his duty as prime minister,” Abu Rudeina said, using Abbas’ nom de guerre. He did not comment on Abbas’ response. Information minister Yasser Abed Rabbo told AFP that Arafat had asked Abbas to form a new government.
Under the new law passed Tuesday, Abbas has three weeks to form a government and present it to Parliament. If he fails to do that, he would have another two weeks before Arafat is obliged to nominate another premier. Arafat conceded defeat Tuesday when Parliament rejected an amendment to a bill proposing he retain the power to hire or fire ministers. He then signed the bill into law.
The move was one of the key reforms demanded by Israel and the United States, as well as by Palestinian legislators who accuse the current administration of corruption and mismanagement. Abbas, the second in command of the Palestine Liberation Organization, 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.
But after being nominated by Arafat, his Fatah party and a central PLO body, officials said he was unlikely to refuse. The approval of the bill unchanged on Tuesday was welcomed as a breakthrough by reformers, including those inside Arafat’s own Fatah faction. “This is the start of a new political democratic system that will allow the separation of powers,” said Fatah MP Qaddura Fares. Arafat loyalists played down the snub to their leader. But Washington and London praised the move toward appointing a premier, seen as essential to overhauling the much-criticized administration and marginalizing Arafat, whom Israel and the United States regard as a failed peace partner.
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.
The appointment of Abbas will put pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to make concessions after lauding the PLO moderate and holding secret talks with him. But Israel’s attention was focused yesterday on the looming US-led war on Iraq, although authorities stressed that a repeat of the 1991 missile attacks on the Jewish state that accompanied the last Gulf War was unlikely.
The Israeli Cabinet was briefed by Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz and intelligence, air force and civil defense officials on the final preparations for a possible attack.
Meanwhile, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana yesterday welcomed Arafat’s invitation to Abbas to become the first Palestinian prime minister, as a sign of a desire to reform. “This new function meets long-standing Palestinian democratic aspirations and demonstrates the genuine willingness of Palestinians to successfully complete the process of reforms,” he said in Brussels.
Abbas “will benefit from my personal support, and that of the whole of the European Union. I know how difficult the task awaiting him is,” he added. “It is time for Israel and the Palestinian Authority to resume an official and constructive dialogue, in the interest of the two peoples who aspire fundamentally to real peace and guaranteed security.” External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten also welcomed Abbas’ appointment — and called on him to help fight terrorism.
