Palestinian Prime Minister Urges End to ‘Armed Chaos’

In the maiden speech Tuesday by the Palestinian Authority’s first prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas challenged Palestinian militants to disarm and declared his commitment to a U.S.-backed peace plan that envisions an independent state for his people in less than three years.

The 68-year-old Abbas -- who was chosen for his new job by authority President Yasser Arafat -- told Palestinian lawmakers that the time had come to end the present situation of “armed chaos” and to “translate our decades and generations of popular and revolutionary struggles into political achievements.”

He put Palestinian militia groups on notice that his government would not tolerate the “unauthorized possession of weapons,” and he criticized terrorist attacks -- such as the suicide bombings carried out by militant organizations -- as poisoning the chances for a resolution to the Palestinian-Israeli standoff.

Abbas’ 45-minute speech, which outlined his agenda on everything from clean government to civil liberties, was closely watched for clues to how he will try to halt the bloody 2 1/2-year-old intifada that has killed more than 2,000 Palestinians and 700 Israelis.

Just hours later, however, a suicide bomber attacked a popular seaside hangout in Tel Aviv early today.

At least four people died, including the bomber, when a blast rocked Mike’s Place, a pub along a beachfront promenade, about 1 a.m., Israeli police said. Dozens of other late-night revelers were hurt in the explosion, the worst such attack in Israel in months.

The bombing instantly cast a pall over the confirmation of Abbas and his 24-member Cabinet by the Palestinian Legislative Council after nearly four hours of debate.

Two militant groups, including Hamas and Tanzim, a branch of Arafat’s Fatah faction, claimed responsibility for the attack, Israeli radio reported. The bombing is likely to be interpreted as a deadly response by radical groups to Abbas’ call for them to lay down their weapons.

“We denounce terrorism by any party and in all its shapes and forms ... because we are convinced that such methods do not lend support to a just cause like ours but rather destroy it,” Abbas said. “These methods do not achieve peace, to which we aspire.”

At the same time, Abbas called on Israel to end its occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, calling the Israeli government’s policies of targeted killings, detentions, checkpoints and home demolitions “the main source of our problems.” Israel says those measures are necessary to defend itself from attack.

Abbas challenged Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to immediately begin implementing the U.S.-sponsored “road map” for peace, a proposal that demands concessions from both Palestinians and Israelis in the lead-up to the establishment of a Palestinian state by 2005.

The new initiative has yet to be published, although its details are widely known. Drafted by the U.S., the United Nations, the European Union and Russia, the plan lays out three phases, including the cessation of violence by extremist Palestinian groups, the institution of Palestinian political reforms, Israeli withdrawal from some occupied areas and a freeze on Jewish settlements.

A perceived moderate who has reportedly called the armed uprising a mistake, Abbas, who also goes by the name Abu Mazen, is believed to genuinely support abandoning violence as a means of achieving Palestinian autonomy. He has promised to rein in militant groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which are responsible for many of the suicide attacks that have terrorized Israelis.

“I repeat, there is no military solution to our conflict,” he told the Palestinian legislators, in a warning to Palestinian militants and the Israeli government alike.

But Abbas, who has built a reputation as a pragmatist and an insider, is certain to encounter stiff opposition in trying to disarm militia organizations. Hamas has already vowed not to stop its attacks, and a majority of the Palestinian public supports armed resistance to eject Israeli forces from the occupied territories.

Abbas “needs to show the Palestinians that [his program] will end occupation, not declare surrender,” said Nabil Shaath, the newly confirmed Palestinian foreign minister.

Israel responded cautiously to Abbas’ address, which Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom called “a good start.”

“Abu Mazen and his government will be judged by their actions,” Shalom said in a prepared statement. “If Abu Mazen implements a policy of fighting terrorism on the ground, he will find in Israel a true partner for peace.”

The bombing in Tel Aviv underscored the difficulties facing Abbas. The explosion occurred on the same popular seaside strip where a suicide attack killed 21 people at a crowded nightclub in June 2001.

The U.S. Embassy is next door to Mike’s Place, but reports said it was not damaged and did not appear to be the intended target.

Police said the bomber was prevented from entering the pub -- and possibly from causing greater casualties-- by a security guard. Television footage showed medics treating bloodied bystanders on the street and bundling other victims into ambulances.

Barry Gilbert, a blues musician who was performing at the club, said there were about 100 patrons.

“We were sitting at a table near the exit, and suddenly we heard a great boom,” said Hen Meroz, 18. “It was all dark, and a lot of things were flying in the air. We were trying to find one another on the ground.”

Meroz and a friend were slightly injured in the bombing.

The bombing was not the only violence to mar Tuesday’s political developments. Tuesday morning, the Israeli army killed three suspected Palestinian militants in the West Bank and Gaza. A civilian bystander also died in one of the operations from shrapnel sent flying by an Israeli missile.

In the wake of those attacks, Palestinian officials accused the Israeli government of sabotaging the international peace plan before it was even unveiled, and some Israeli officials also questioned the timing of the operations. The military calls such attacks surgical strikes against lethal enemies, but Palestinians denounce them as assassinations.

To crack down on militants, Abbas named Mohammed Dahlan as his minister in charge of security affairs.

A dapper but controversial figure, Dahlan is the popular former security chief of Gaza but has only a small power base in the West Bank. In 1996, Dahlan mounted a fairly successful clampdown on Hamas that earned him both admirers and foes.

His appointment roiled relations between Abbas and Arafat, who wanted one of his cronies to assume the job, the Cabinet portfolio with perhaps the most bearing on the new peace initiative’s prospects.

Indeed, Abbas had wanted to strip the Cabinet of most of Arafat’s loyalists, but Arafat refused to be sidelined.

During the debate over the Cabinet’s confirmation, a number of Palestinian lawmakers expressed unhappiness that so many of the old guard remained in power, particularly some ministers who have been tainted by corruption scandals.

But in the end, 51 members of the 88-member parliament voted in favor of installing the Cabinet. Eighteen voted against, and three abstained. Others were absent or chose not to vote.

*

Special correspondent Morris reported from Tel Aviv and staff writer Chu from Ramallah.