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Topic: Arafat, Abu Mazen agree on new cabinet !!
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Kindgo
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From Fox News
Abbas, Arafat End Standoff, Agree on New Palestinian Cabinet
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,84927,00.html
Wednesday, April 23, 2003
RAMALLAH, West Bank — Prime Minister-designate Mahmoud Abbas presented a new Cabinet to Yasser Arafat, ending a dayslong standoff with the Palestinian leader over its composition, officials said Wednesday.
Palestinian Parliament Speaker Ahmed Qureia said he was informed by Abbas and Arafat that the new Cabinet was formed, just hours before a midnight deadline, and the list of ministers is ready for presentation to the parliament.
"We were asked to call for a special session of the Palestinian legislature to vote confidence in the new government," Qureia said. "I will call for a session ... within a week."
The agreement was essential for keeping alive a U.S.-backed peace plan for full Palestinian statehood within three years. President Bush has said he only will present that plan after an empowered Palestinian prime minister is installed.
Earlier Wednesday, Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman pressed Abbas and Arafat to end their standoff.
Suleiman presented a compromise proposal to Arafat in an hour-long meeting at the Palestinian leader's West Bank headquarters, an official close to the talks said. He then visited Abbas' nearby home and went back to see Arafat again.
Suleiman then accompanied Abbas on a visit to Arafat's headquarters. That team included Mohammed Dahlan, a former Gaza security chief tapped by Abbas for a key security post.
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God bless,
Kindgo
Inside the will of God there is no failure. Outside the will of God there is no success.
Posts: 4320 | From: Sunny Florida | Registered: Jun 2002
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Kindgo
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Palestinian official: Arafat, Abu Mazen agree on new cabinet
Last Update: 23/04/2003 16:57
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/286438.html
By Arnon Regular, Haaretz Correspondent, Haaretz Service and Agencies
Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat and his prime minister-designate Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) have reached an agreement on the composition of the new cabinet, a senior Palestinian official said Wednesday.
"Arafat and brother Abu Mazen have sorted out their differences," said Tayeb Abdul-Rahim, a senior aide to Arafat, after last-minute mediation efforts by a senior Egyptian envoy.
Abdul-Rahim said that under the deal, Abu Mazen will serve as interior minister and Mohammed Dahlan, the former Gaza security chief whom Arafat did not want in any executive position, will be in charge of security affairs.
The announcement comes after the head of Egyptian Intelligence, Omar Suleiman, placed heavy pressure on Arafat to find a solution to the dispute with Abu Mazen over the composition of the new cabinet.
Arafat had objected to the would-be prime minister's nomination of Dahlan for the head of the new government's security services, and Wednesday presented his own three-strong short list of candidates.
But Suleiman, sent Wednesday by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, urged Arafat to give up his demands, Israel Radio reported. The Egyptian envoy assured Arafat that he would remain leader of the Palestinian nation, but was pushing him to rescind his demands over the formulation of the cabinet, the radio said.
Abu Mazen, who had not met with Arafat since Saturday, Suleiman and Dahlan, arrived at Arafat's Ramallah headquarters Wednesday afternoon.
Earlier in the day, Arafat sent Abu Mazen a list of three candidates from which to choose a minister responsible for security.
The list included Arafat's bureau secretary Tayeb Abd al Rahim, Hikam Balawai, who Abu Mazen designated to act as cabinet secretary, and Hamdan Ashour, designated by Abu Mazen to serve as cabinet minister.
U.S. warns Arafat over failure to form cabinet
The United States warned Arafat that he will bear the consequences of Abu Mazen's failure to form a cabinet, Israel Radio quoted Palestinian sources in Ramallah as saying Wednesday.
The sources said a senior U.S. officials phoned Arafat on Tuesday night and told him that he would be responsible for any failure to establish a government.
Abu Mazen must present his new cabinet by the Wednesday midnight deadline.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair called Arafat on Tuesday and - according to one Palestinian official - delivered a stern message that everything must be done to assure that Abu Mazen is installed as prime minister.
He warned Arafat that the international community will stop its efforts to bring an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Israel Radio reported Tuesday.
Arab, European and U.S. officials have also called Arafat in recent days to press him to reach agreement with Abu Mazen so that the latter can be sworn in as prime minister.
But a senior Palestinian official said after a meeting of the Central Committee of Arafat's Fatah faction on Tuesday night that "the differences have been narrowed down."
"The situation is better than before and we hope that the cabinet will be presented in the coming 24 hours," the official said.
Earlier Tuesday, one of Abu Mazen's aides said that talks with Arafat had failed and that the prime minister-designate had prepared a letter of resignation, but had not given it to Arafat to enable the continuation of negotiations. Arafat and Abu Mazen have not spoken since Sunday.
The U.S. State Department said Tuesday that the dispute between Arafat and Abu Mazen is hurting the Palestinian people and delaying them from gaining statehood.
While department spokesman Richard Boucher said it was up to the Palestinians, and not the United States to choose their leader, he came down on Abu Mazen's side on the key item in dispute - picking the security chief.
"There is every reason to support the idea that the prime minister needs to be able to choose his cabinet," Boucher said. "You don't have an empowered prime minister, you don't have a leadership that's capable of establishing the institutions of a state unless the leaders get to choose the members of their cabinet," the U.S. official said.
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell conferred by telephone Tuesday with British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and, over two days, in calls to Russian, European and Arab ministers.
"There is strong international interest in seeing an empowered prime minister with his choice of cabinet so that we can get on with the work that benefits the Palestinian people," Boucher said. "And any delay, any obstruction to the process, is really just hurting the Palestinian people and keeping them from achieving their aspirations."
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God bless,
Kindgo
Inside the will of God there is no failure. Outside the will of God there is no success.
Posts: 4320 | From: Sunny Florida | Registered: Jun 2002
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