Embattled Palestinian PM steps down

The departure of the moderate Abbas could destroy a U.S.-backed plan for peace with Israel, already damaged by the collapse of a truce declared by Palestinian militants and by a relentless Israeli campaign to kill or capture their leaders.

Palestinian legislator and negotiator Saeb Erekat, who is close to Arafat, said Abbas had handed in a written
resignation to officials on Saturday to take to the president. Officials said it was already on Arafat's desk. Arafat would have to accept the resignation for it to take effect.

Abbas was appointed by Arafat only four months ago under international pressure for an end to almost three years of Middle East bloodshed.

Abbas had told members of parliament on Thursday to sack him if they would not back him in his bid to obtain more authority from Arafat to carry out democratic reforms and subdue militant factions hostile to negotiated peace with Israel.

Both steps, along with Israeli withdrawals from occupied territory, are mandated by the "road map", a peace plan envisaging a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip by 2005 alongside a secure Israel.

A senior Palestinian official told Reuters: "Abbas's problems (in part stem from) the continuation of Israeli
incursions and assassinations. In addition to that the American administration has done little to make Israel comply with the road map."

On Friday, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell promised that the United States would work harder on peace between Israelis and Palestinians and backed Abbas against Arafat.

"We need to redouble our efforts. We need to keep the pressure on both sides to do everything they can to get to that point where Israelis and Palestinians can live side-by-side in peace," Powell said in a speech at George Washington University.

"Unfortunately Chairman Yasser Arafat has not been playing a helpful role. He has not been an interlocutor for peace over the years. His actions do not move the parties farther down the road to peace," Powell said.

MILITANT OUTBURST DISCOURAGED ABBAS

The senior Palestinian official said an intimidating demonstration against Abbas outside parliament on Thursday by members of a militant faction loyal to Arafat had been another factor in the premier's decision to quit.

Abbas, 68, a reticent former peace negotiator lacking wide popularity, has been vying with Arafat, 74, the iconic ex-guerrilla leader who has led the Palestinian independence movement since the 1960s, for more power to save the "road map".

Much of the dispute has focused on control of Palestinian security forces needed to break up militant groups, one of which is aligned with Arafat's Fatah movement.

Israel has been demanding that Abbas disarm these groups and says the ceasefire, which they declared on June 29, disintegrated because of a suicide bombing by the Hamas group on August 19 that killed 22 people.

Palestinian officials and militants blamed the lurch backward into violence on Israeli army raids on wanted
militants. These continued despite the militants' ceasefire and resulted in dozens being killed or captured, including a leading Hamas figure, Ismail Abu Shanab.

On Friday, Israeli commandos killed a Hamas militant commander and left 28 families homeless after blowing up the apartment house where he lived in what analysts called another blow to Abbas's struggle for political survival and credibility.

Palestinian officials have accused Israel's right-wing ruling coalition, which accepted the "road map" only under U.S. pressure, of sabotaging it with the raids and its reluctance to lift the blockades that cripple daily life in the West Bank.

Israel has killed 11 Hamas men and four civilian bystanders in helicopter missile strikes in Gaza since August 21.



© Copyright Swiss Radio International (SRI) 2003.