Palestinian Lawmakers Oppose Cabinet List

02/23/2005

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) - The Palestinian prime minister had trouble Wednesday securing a parliamentary majority for his proposed Cabinet, despite promises that he would replace corruption-tainted politicians with professional appointees.

The prime minister, Ahmed Qureia, would have to step down if he fails to get his Cabinet approved. A vote was originally set for later Wednesday, but was then delayed until Thursday - another sign of Qureia’s growing difficulties, parliament officials said.

Several legislators said they wanted to push Qureia out and would not support any Cabinet he proposes. During years as parliament speaker, Qureia made many enemies among legislators who perceived him as doing the bidding of the late Yasser Arafat, at the expense of the legislature.

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, who had largely remained on the sidelines during the political turmoil of the past few days, convened legislators from his ruling Fatah party on Wednesday, ahead of the vote, and urged them to support Qureia’s Cabinet. An angry Qureia did not participate in the meeting, and instead returned to his home in the Jerusalem suburb of Abu Dis.

Abbas has promised to carry out government reform, and a Cabinet of professional appointees would make it easier for him to do the job than one stacked with politicians.

Late Tuesday, more than two dozen legislators, including many from Fatah, met in a Ramallah hotel and decided not to back the new list, participants said. Fatah controls more than half the seats in the 85-member parliament, and Qureia needs unanimous support from the party’s legislators.

“The general feeling was that this Cabinet will fall,” said Cabinet minister and Fatah legislator Jamal Shobaki, who attended the meeting. “Many said they were not going to vote in favor of the Cabinet.”

Nabil Amr, another participant from Fatah, also said Qureia, widely known as Abu Ala, had little chance of getting his Cabinet approved. “Abu Ala will face a very hard situation today,” Amr said.

Earlier this week, Qureia had presented a Cabinet to parliament that included only four new faces, prompting an angry outcry from legislators. After wall-to-wall criticism, he returned with a promise to overhaul his team and appoint many more professionals.

Israel and the United States have long demanded reforms to the corruption-plagued Palestinian Authority, and success in the task is one of the key tests for Abbas.

In addition to reforming the government, the United States and Israel want Abbas to unify his competing, overlapping and corrupt security services into a force that will be able to conduct an effective campaign against violence and militant groups.

Abbas and Qureia have long been political rivals, but cooperated after Arafat’s death in November. In recent weeks, their relationship has cooled.

Outgoing Fatah Cabinet minister Kadoura Fares said that if Qureia fails to win parliament approval, he should not try again. Asked if the prime minister will have to be replaced, Fares said: “There’s no other choice.”

The Fatah party has dominated Palestinian politics for four decades, ruling the Palestinian Authority since its inception in 1994. But some say voter frustration with corruption and cronyism will lead to the party’s defeat in a July parliamentary election.

In Israel, Police Chief Moshe Karadi asked for an additional 61 million shekels (about euro11 million, US$14 million) to deal with what they said are serious warnings about a possible attack by Jewish extremists on a key Jerusalem holy site.

Israeli security officials have warned for months that extremists might try to attack the shrine - known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as Haram as-Sharif - to inflame Israeli-Arab tensions and sabotage Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s plan to evacuate the Gaza Strip this summer.

Karadi told parliament’s Finance Committee on Tuesday he wants to hire 187 more officers to help protect the site from attack, the committee said in a statement. The holy site is one of the most contentious issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and any attack would resonate worldwide.