Arafat faces crisis as minister resigns
Palestine, Politics, 1/27/1998

A new cabinet crisis may be ahead of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat as his Labor Minister Samir Ghosheh has submitted his resignation over "deep differences with the Palestinian leadership on a number of issues."

Arafat promised earlier in the month that by the end of January a cabinet reshuffle will take place and that a number of ministers will be replaced. Demands for reshuffling some of the ministers increased lately in light of the conclusions of an inquiry team that investigated reported corruption and misuse of authority by some ministers and directors general in their offices.

Ghosheh felt so helpless and disappointed that he decided to go ahead with his resignation despite all promises he received that changes are to be introduced shortly, said Palestinian sources in Ramallah Tuesday. In his letter, published in full by the Palestinian papers, Ghosheh noted that among other reasons, he wanted to resign because of the performance of the Palestinian government and because of the failure to improve the process of institutional construction, giving chances for "interference, patronage, and favoritism."

Ghosheh, the head of a small PLO faction called the Palestinian Struggle Front, is his organization's representative in the PLO Executive Committee. He blamed the Palestinian leadership for failing to convene a meeting of the PLO Executive Committee and noted that all demands for such a meeting of this committee had fallen on deaf ears. The PLO is the supreme Palestinian body in charge of day-to-day policy and of implementing the guidelines of the Palestine National Council, the parliament in exile of the Palestinian people.

Political factions and institutions, wrote Ghosheh, have been marginalized, and instead, he noted, Palestinian cabinet meetings are held in a much wider forum than necessary, whereas PLO Executive Committee members and other officials not linked to the Palestinian cabinet join its meetings almost on a regular basis.

Detailing his reasons for the resignation, Ghosheh charged President Arafat with failure to take decisions on a number of issues, including the ratification of the Civil Service Law, and the report of the Public Monitoring Committee which has so far been neglected and no action has been taken against those indicted by the report.

Ghosheh also blamed the absence of laws that clearly separate the powers of the three branches of government. He claimed that the executive authority has spread its hegemony and has as such paralyzed the legislative authority, which should act independently from the executive authority. He said the executive authority¹s hegemony lead to the paralysis of the legislative authority¹s role, particularly in ratifying laws, in addition to the general weakness of the judicial branch.

Last year, two ministers in the Palestinian cabinet resigned but their resignations have yet to be accepted by President Arafat. Elias Freij, minister of tourism and former mayor of Bethlehem in the West Bank, resigned after the serious deterioration of his health. His post in the city hall was filled by Dr. Hanna Nasser who was his deputy in the municipal council, but so far no replacement has been officially assigned. Minister of Industry Bashir Barghouti resigned, also for health reasons, after he suffered a severe stroke. Again, he has not yet been replaced.

A few months ago, all the ministers resigned en masse but they backtracked as President Arafat promised them to introduce a number of reforms. Earlier this month, pressure on Arafat to reshuffle his cabinet came from the Palestinian Legislative Council which suspended its sessions for a whole week in a bid of protest. The Council returned to its normal schedule only after Arafat's top aide, Tayyeb Abdul Rahim, who is the presidential secretary, told Council members that a cabinet reshuffle would take place before the end of January.

Previous Stories:
  Arafat for international observers, will reshuffle cabinet in late January   (12/30/1997)
  Arafat to fight corruption   (10/20/1997)
  Arafat in no hurry to shuffle cabinet   (8/4/1997)

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