Diplomatic efforts are under way to resolve the political deadlock between Arafat and Abbas

JENIN, West Bank, April 23 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – As frantic phone-calls heaped on Palestinian President Yasser Arafat from world leaders to find a way out of the cabinet dilemma, Israeli occupation troops continued their crackdown on Palestinian fighters Wednesday, April 23, and thrust into a hospital in the Wes Bank city of Jenin, abducted three fighters of the Islamic Jihad resistance movement.

Aissar Atrash, 22, considered an important local leader of the resistance group was arrested in a hospital in Jenin where he had been admitted two days earlier after being shot in the leg in an exchange of fire during an Israeli raid on the town, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

Fellow Jihad fighter Izad Zawadra, 24, who was also wounded by gunfire fighting the Israelis, was likewise nabbed in a different hospital in the town, considered by Israel a bastion of die-hard Palestinian fighters. 

The third Jihad member was Anas Shraideh, 21, originally from Al-Khalil (Hebron) in the south. He was studying at An-Najah university in Nablus.

An army spokesman said Shraideh was seriously wounded trying to resist abduction.

His wife was also detained for questioning after troops found five explosive devices in the house, the army spokesman said.

Israeli troops, in addition, broke Wednesday into Beir Zeit and opened fire on a number of students, leaving some of them seriously injured, Al-Jazeera reported.

Shuttle Diplomacy To Save The Day 

Meanwhile, shuttle diplomacy and phone calls from world leaders Wednesday tried to persuade Yasser Arafat to end his resistance to a new cabinet line-up as his prime minister-designate Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) has until midnight (2100 GMT) Wednesday to name a new cabinet or step aside.

The head of Egyptian intelligence, Omar Suleiman, was due in Arafat's offices in Ramallah later on Wednesday in a bid to resolve the crisis after Abbas said talks between him and Arafat had "broken down."

News of the visit was passed to Arafat by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who phoned the veteran Palestinian leader during a meeting of the executive committee of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) on Tuesday evening, April 22.

International attempts to encourage a last-minute breakthrough continued late Tuesday with Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa and Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh both phoning Arafat.

Earlier British Prime Minister Tony Blair called him, as well as the foreign ministers of Greece, Spain and Japan, to press him to relent.

On the ground in Ramallah, Russia's Middle East envoy Andrei Vdovin engaged in an intense bout of shuttle diplomacy, meeting first with Arafat, then with Abbas, then with Arafat once again.

"The Palestinian government must be formed under Abu Mazen in order to push the situation forward," he told journalists following his first meeting with Arafat.

The United States lashed out Tuesday on Arafat for preventing the prime minister from taking his position.

"He's still there and he is still not showing the kind of leadership that we need in a Palestinian leader," Powell said of Arafat.

"I think if Yasser Arafat does not allow Mr Abu Mazen to form the cabinet that Mr Abu Mazen says he needs to be the prime minister of the Palestinian Authority, an opportunity of enormous importance will be lost and Arafat will have done it again," he said.

A Palestinian official told AFP that a U.S. State Department official had phoned Arafat late Tuesday and warned him he would have to "bear responsibility for a failure" in the talks.

Negotiations between Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, and Arafat stalled late Saturday over the latter's refusal to accept the nomination of Mohammed Dahlan, a former senior police official who fell out with Arafat, as security chief.

Abu Mazen does not enjoy wide support among Palestinians but is a seasoned politician, co-founder with Arafat of the PLO's mainstream Fatah movement and a prominent figure in the agreement of the 1993 Oslo partial peace accords.

Prominent Palestinian lawmaker, Hanan Ashrawi, on Tuesday, April 22, lashed out at Abu Mazen’s choines, accusing him of “relying on controversial persons, with less experience than a controversial past”.

Talks To Go Until Midnight

In another development, Abu Mazen said Wednesday talks to create a reformist new cabinet would go on until the migdnight (2100 GMT) deadline.

Abu Mazen said in a statement that he "will continue his efforts to form a government until the end of the legal deadline. Dialogue will continue will all different factions."

"The main reason for accepting the task of forming a new government was to serve Palestinian interests first and foremost," the statement said. "If this will not happen then there will be no need for a new government."

Abbas said the problem at the heart of the talks was not specific names but a "problem of mistrust."

"It is also a problem of powers assigned," the statement said.

Arafat is seen by many to be in a key struggle to save his almost 50-year political career, fearing that if Abbas is granted full powers as premier then he himself will be relegated to a mere symbolic role.