Arafat for international observers, will reshuffle cabinet in late January
Palestine, Politics, 12/30/1997

The Palestinian proposal to deploy international troops in the West Bank's Area B is meant to supply Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu means to accept the redeployment of his troops without being seen as someone who is ready to compromise on Israel's security needs, Palestinian sources said Tuesday.

The sources pointed out that President Yasser Arafat will stress in his meeting with US President Bill Clinton late in January the need to copy the Hebron deployment of international observers to some other parts of the West Bank.

Arafat told reporters that the Oslo Accords had stipulated deploying such troops. Speaking at a rally in Gaza on Monday, Arafat said that Palestine has only one map, the one registered with the United Nations, and that the Palestinians reject Israel's unilateral attempts to redraw the political map of Palestine.

Meanwhile, a Palestinian official source in Gaza denied earlier reports attributed to President Arafat's special advisor Marwan Kanafani who was quoted as saying that Arafat had accepted the resignation of his cabinet. The source said Kanafani was not authorized to issue the statement on behalf of President Arafat. A cabinet reshuffle, however, is expected late in January, upon Arafat's return from his meeting with President Clinton, sources said. Minister of Social Welfare, Intisar Al Wazir had confirmed that a cabinet reshuffle is expected and said it might take place by the end of January.

The reports on a cabinet reshuffle followed last week's suspension of the Palestinian Legislative Council's sessions in a show of defiance of Arafat's government and in protest against the government's failure to introduce a number of reforms, mainly with regard to reports of the general comptroller office and the PNA committee on financial and administrative misconduct in some of the PNA cabinets.

PLC Deputy Speaker Ibrahim Abu Naja said members of the council have changed their mind and are now willing not to file a no-confidence motion after President Arafat himself promised two days earlier that the present cabinet is temporary and that he intends to make changes in the near future, probably after his return from his meeting with President Clinton in Washington.

PLC member Marwan Barghouthi, who also heads the Fatah Supreme Committee in the West Bank, quoted President Arafat as saying that he had accepted the resignation of the Palestinian cabinet which was submitted a few months ago, and that the new cabinet will be formed within a maximum period of 45 days. The PLC, meanwhile, resumed its sessions Tuesday after a one-week suspension.

Previous Stories:
  Protesting, the Palestinian Legislative Council suspends sessions   (12/26/1997)
  Arafat briefs Mubarak on results of Albright meeting   (12/20/1997)
  Redeployment proposals partition West Bank. Mordechai's vs Sharon   (12/15/1997)

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