RAMALLAH,
West Bank, September 11 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The
Palestinian cabinet resigned Wednesday, September 11, rather than face
a vote of no confidence from parliament, and Palestinian President
Yasser Arafat accepted the resignation, presidential secretary Ahmed
Abdel Rahman said.
Faced
with an almost certain defeat from deputies who said the Palestinian
leader's reshuffle announced in June 2002 did not go far enough, the
cabinet quit rather than be voted down by the Palestine Legislative
Council (PLC), he said.
Arafat,
who reshuffled the cabinet under growing pressure from home and abroad
as part of a promised reform program, had accepted the decision,
Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
Speaker
Ahmed Qorei closed the session, saying parliament would reconvene in
two weeks to consider a new cabinet line-up to be presented by Arafat.
"We
consulted each other and decided to submit our resignation to
President Arafat to enable him to form a new government," said
Local Affairs Minister and chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat.
"This
is real democracy, a proof of political pluralism, and we view it as a
landmark decision in Palestinian history," he added.
Qorei
said the new government would also have to be submitted to the PLC for
a confidence vote.
He
echoed Erakat's sentiments, saying, "We showed today that even in
the difficult situation [of Israeli reoccupation of the West Bank]
democratic negotiations are possible."
In
an address to parliament in May 2002, Arafat said that he would
undertake major reforms of his administration, accused of corruption
and incompetence, and of his security structures. He announced the new
team in June.
Arafat
had scrambled to avoid the blow to his Authority, already under attack
from Israel and the United States. He now finds himself assailed by
his own lawmakers, who want more fundamental change in the
administration, said AFP.
The
veteran leader initially summoned deputies from his own Fatah movement
to rally support after senior members voiced dissatisfaction with his
reshuffle.
Jamal
Shaati, a Fatah deputy who attended that meeting, said Arafat had
spoken in general terms about the need for unity but had not made any
mention of a specific election date.
 |
"The Israeli
government manipulated the changes after 9/11 in order to brand
our struggle terrorist and to cover the reoccupation of our
land," Arafat said
|
Arafat
then tried a constitutional maneuver, decreeing new presidential and
parliamentary polls for January 20, thereby making his cabinet a
caretaker government which would not be bound by the confidence vote.
But
lawmakers insisted that even a temporary government would have to
accept the results of a trust ballot, threatening to take the case to
the Supreme Court. The cabinet then resigned rather than face the
public humiliation of a defeat.
Since
the September 11 attacks, the U.S. position toward the Palestinians
has been going from bad to worse with the Palestinian resistance
forces labeled by the U.S. as terrorists.
Speaking
Monday, September 9 ahead of the September 11 anniversary, Arafat said
Israel had used the opportunity of the attacks to paint the
Palestinian resistance as “terrorism”.
"The
Israeli government manipulated the changes after September 11 in order
to brand our struggle terrorist and to cover the reoccupation of our
land, while we are victims of terror," he said.
"Israel
has been buoyed by the American stand and has received support as a
result of these attacks," he added.
He
said Israel’s ongoing military occupation of the West Bank and parts
of the Gaza Strip had removed a “horizon for peace” and was also
threatening Palestinian presidential and parliamentary elections
slated for January next year.
