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| Middle East | ||
| A look at the maneuvering going into the Paleocabinet... | ||
| 2003-04-20 | ||
| Jihad Al Khazen Al-Hayat 2003/04/20 It seems that the birth of the new Palestinian Cabinet won't be established unless by a difficult cesarean operation, for President Yasser Arafat insists on complicating the mission of Mahmoud Abbas. Arafat refused the first cabinet formation proposed by Abbas. When the conciliation committee including Abu Al Alaa and Sakher Habash presented eight requests by Arafat, Abbas agreed on 18, i.e. other requests than ministers' names. The remaining problem is the entry of Mohammad Dahlan to the cabinet. Arafat insists on putting a Veto on the former Preventive Security President in Gaza, while Abbas insists on joining him in the cabinet as a Minister of State responsible for Security, for he knows that the success, or the failure, of his cabinet relies on controlling security before anything else. He is convinced that Mohammad Dahlan is able to carry out this mission. It seems that Arafat fears his competitor, Abbas, in the short term, and Abu Fadi on the long run. Abbas agreed on putting back Saeb Erekat, Yasser Abed Rabbo and Mrs. Intissar Al-Wazir (aka Oum Jihad) in specified ministries, as he dealt with Maher El Masri to go back to the Ministry of Economy where he was for years after he refused the Ministry of Natural Resources and Energy that was decided to be given to Issam Al Shawa instead of the Ministry of Economy. This is important because the appointed PM agreed on giving up Naser Yussef as Vice-PM. He will be probably appointed as Minister of State. Naser Yussef might be one of Abbas' "mistakes" in his first formation, for it was only made of prominent opposition personalities to the President such as Hekmat Zeid, Nabil Amro and others. At the same time, his prominent men were set aside such as Saeb Erekat, Yasser Abed Rabbo and Hani El Hosn. It is clear that Arafat was clinging to Al Hasan up to the last moment as a Minister of the Interior. However, Abbas is aware that Hani El Hosn will not be able to control security in a way that facilitates the following negotiation process. The objective of his being in the Cabinet is to undermine its mission no matter how hard other ministers will try. Abbas wonders how to appoint as a minister of interior a man who opposes the Oslo Accords, and states it always, whereas the whole authority work is linked to these agreements.
Arafat is still maneuvering. On Wednesday night, he agreed on the new formation proposed by Abbas. But, the next day, he again contested Mohammad Dahlan. His meeting with the designate PM, for Abbas praised a lot Arafat's leadership, who answered by kissing his head. However, Hani El Hosn, who was present, launched a long campaign on Mohammad Dahlan and said that he is not suited for a security post. It was clear he was expressing the President's opinion. Mr. Dahlan became a red line for the PM, and if the latter will listen to Arafat's suggestions, no minister in the Cabinet will be among his men and he will lose the most important card, that of security.
I am writing in the morning before the results of the Central Committee on Saturday. But I expect that the committee will agree on Mr. Dahlan as a Minister of state in charge of security. For without this approval, there will not be any cabinet, and Arafat knows that he can maneuver, but he cannot prevent the formation of the cabinet. In fact, there is a consensus on the presence of a PM who is negotiating and a Palestinian Cabinet because of the agreement between the U.S. and Israel on refusing to work with the Palestinian President. | ||
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |
| #1 Erekat and Rabbo are lying sacks of sh*t, so they'll obviously be in the information ministry. The Who were prescient: "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss" |
| Posted by: Frank G 2003-04-20 12:31:15 |