| Submit your comments on this article |
| Israel-Palestine |
| Palestinian Leader Retracts |
| 2004-07-28 |
| EFL hattip to WND - the ought to do some comercials like Steinbrenner did with Billy Martin. Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia retracted his resignation Tuesday, ending a two-week standoff with Yasser Arafat that raised profound questions the Palestinian leader's ability to rein in dissident elements of his ruling Fatah movement. Qureia resigned earlier this month in frustration at Arafat's refusal to let him restructure the security forces and deal with growing unrest in the Palestinian areas. But Arafat refused to let him step down. Hassan Abu Libdeh, general secretary of the Cabinet, said Arafat and Qureia had agreed to grant more power to officials overseeing the security forces. However, speaking to reporters, Qureia denied that. "I'm not going to bargain with the president about authority over the security branches," Qureia told a news conference in the West Bank City of Ramallah. "We have enough powers over them as it stands." The two men emerged from a closed-door meeting, kissing each other on the cheeks and clasping and holding up their hands together. "The president refused my resignation, and I will comply," Qureia said. "This is a new step toward reform and imposing the rule of law. There will be actions on the ground." Qureia's resignation two weeks ago coincided with a wave of kidnappings, riots and calls for reform that put Arafat in one of his most difficult positions since returning to the Palestinian territories from exile a decade ago. I am appending the comments of Adam Ereli, Deputy Spokesman: MR. ERELI: I don't really have much of a comment on the political maneuverings within the Palestinian Authority. The important point for us is that concrete actions are taken that produce tangible results on the ground. The results that we want to see are real consolidation of the security services, real authority vested in the prime minister and real moves against the terrorist infrastructure in the Palestinian territories. That's really the basis on which we're going to make our assessments, as opposed to who's up, who's down, who's in, who's out on any given day. |
| Posted by:Anonymous4828 |
| #2 qureia is too weak to outbargain Arafat. Yeah, and John Kerry served in Viet Nam, and Bill Gates is rich. Will this satisfy the folks who are making trouble in Gaza? I very much doubt it. |
| Posted by: Liberalhawk 2004-07-28 2:13:15 PM |
| #1 Rats, I was next on the list. |
| Posted by: Abu Shipman 2004-07-28 11:35:37 AM |