Arafat to challenge Bush by seeking re-election
Yasser Arafat will run for re-election, snubbing a call from President Bush for a new Palestinian leadership as part of a deal for provisional statehood.
Planning Minister Nabil Shaath said ailing Arafat, suspected of suffering from Parkinsons disease, had told him directly he would run again. Yes, absolutely,’’ Shaath said in London today.
Hours earlier, the Palestinians announced presidential and parliamentary elections in mid-January and unveiled plans to overhaul financial and security institutions.
The announcements came two days after Bush demanded reforms and called for a new Palestinian leadership ‘‘not compromised by terror.’’
Shaath predicted that Islamic militant group Hamas, responsible for many of the suicide bomb attacks inside Israel, could take control of parliament in the election if they take part.
‘‘Their threat to the presidency is less,’’ he said in London.
Polls show that 73-year-old Arafat would be re-elected. The British government is at odds with President Bush over the issue and has said the Palestinians must be left to choose their own leader.
Senior Palestinian official Saeb Erekat, who announced the elections, also said the first independent Palestinian municipal elections would be held in March and that the Palestinian finance, judicial and security branches would undergo drastic improvements.
‘‘Competent judges,’’ he said, would be appointed by the end of September.
‘‘Many of you may think, ‘Are we submitting this or saying this in response to President Bush’s speech?’ We are saying this in response to Palestinian needs. We have been working on this reform for months,’’ Erekat said.
Palestinian Parliament Secretary Ahmed Abdel Rahman said the presidential and parliamentary elections would probably be on January 10 or 11.
Raanan Gissin, spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, said in response that Israel wants to see concrete evidence of a clampdown on terror attacks before judging the effectiveness of Palestinian reforms.
‘‘This is how it will be tested - with action. In the meantime, all we have is words,’’ he said.
Today’s announcement was the first detailed Palestinian leadership acknowledgment of shortcomings others long have pointed out.
Noted, for example, were the need for ‘‘competent’’ judges and to ‘‘renounce fanaticism’’ in the Palestinian education system implying acceptance of those criticisms.
Palestinians said they intended to restructure and modernise the Interior Ministry, bringing the police and civil defence under its control and making it more active in enforcing court rulings.
A Palestinian Authority document said the ministry would deal with the ‘‘negative phenomena arising from lack of discipline within the security services.’’
Judicial reforms also have been long-awaited.
Shawki Issa, a leading Palestinian human rights lawyer, said many judges aren’t qualified and that problems were compounded by Israeli closures and restrictions that prevented judges and lawyers from getting to court sessions.
Corruption allegations have plagued the Palestinian Authority since its inception in 1994, and the outlined reforms attempt to tighten management and improve auditing of public funds.
