Palestinians in Deadlock Over Cabinet Pick

Aides scrambled Monday to break a deadlock between Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat and Prime Minister-designate Mahmoud Abbas over the makeup of a new Cabinet to oversee revived Middle East peace efforts.

The interior minister’s job -- with key responsibilities over security -- was still unfilled.

Political sources close to the infighting described the confrontation as tense and turbulent, with Abbas threatening to relinquish his post if Arafat proves unwilling to make way for reforms.

Washington has thrown its support behind Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, and says it will unveil a U.S.-approved “road map” to peace between Palestinians and Israelis once the Cabinet appointments are settled.

Abbas has until Wednesday to put his Cabinet roster before the Palestinian parliament.

At the center of the dispute is a push by Abbas to sideline or fire several Arafat loyalists, including Interior Minister Hani Hassan, who has failed to curtail terrorist attacks by Palestinian militants over the last few months.

Abbas wants to give Hassan’s job to Mohammed Dahlan, a former Gaza Strip security chief who has negotiated with Israeli officials to try to reach a cease-fire agreement since the second intifada began in September 2000.

Dahlan’s security forces also cracked down on militants from time to time, earning him a degree of respect on the international scene but weakening his base of support at home. Israel has conditioned any future peace initiatives on an end to terrorist attacks by Palestinian militants, and Israeli officials insist that Arafat has been unable or unwilling to prevent dozens of suicide bombers from blowing themselves up in Israeli buses and cafes, claiming hundreds of lives.

“As long as Arafat is pulling the strings, Israel cannot negotiate” a peace settlement, an Israeli government source said.

He added: “Arafat’s having trouble letting go.”

If Dahlan developed a strong security apparatus and truly curbed terrorist activities, the theory goes, his success could chip away at the aging Arafat’s authority.

As the clock ticked Monday, European and Arab leaders weighed in with phone calls to Arafat, urging him to find a quick solution. Among them were German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and King Abdullah II of Jordan.

A “strong, empowered Cabinet headed by [Abbas] ... is deeply in the interests of the Palestinian people,” State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.

On the Israeli side, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom spoke with U.S. Secretary of State Colin L. Powell to express concerns that Arafat was obstructing Abbas’ efforts to build a strong democratic government.

The deepening power struggle also fueled speculation across Israeli airwaves and television screens that Abbas might step down rather than capitulate, throwing peace prospects into disarray. But analysts suggested that it was in both men’s interests to reach a deal.

Arafat cannot ignore international calls for reform in his corruption-plagued Fatah faction, they said, while Abbas cannot consolidate popular support without Arafat, who is seen as the father of the Palestinian push for statehood.

Failure to solve the dispute over Cabinet appointments would delay the publication of the peace plan drafted by the United States, the United Nations, Europe and Russia, which calls for a Palestinian state by 2005, a withdrawal of Israeli troops from forward positions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and security guarantees for Israel.