Arafat Says He’ll Appoint a Premier

Beleaguered Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat agreed Friday to appoint a prime minister, giving way to pressure from U.S. and European negotiators struggling to prod Israel and the Palestinians back into serious peace talks.

Arafat’s sudden pledge was met with skepticism and curiosity both in the Palestinian territories and in Israel. It was unclear how soon the position would be created, who would get the job and what authority the prime minister would have.

“They’re telling him this is how he can survive,” said Ghassan Khatib, the Palestinian Authority labor minister and a longtime pollster. “I’d be very much surprised if something actual, like appointing a prime minister, happens. He committed, but he knows it’s easy to escape the commitment.”

Four times in the last two weeks, foreign negotiators have entered Arafat’s compound and steered past heaps of brick and rubble that used to be offices for the Palestinian Authority. They met with Arafat in the only structure left standing when Israeli soldiers demolished most of his compound last year.

The negotiators represent Russia, the European Union and the United Nations -- three-fourths of the so-called quartet that is trying to reinvigorate peace talks even as Israeli and Palestinian death tolls rise by the week. The fourth member, the United States, stopped meeting with Arafat last year.

Israel also refuses to negotiate with Arafat, whom the Jewish state accuses of encouraging suicide bombings, sniper attacks and other assaults against Israelis. On Friday, Israeli leaders said again that words are useless as long as Arafat is in power.

In the Palestinian territories, peace moves are bogged down by broken infrastructure, military occupation and deep animosities. Still, the quartet has been pushing the Palestinians to draft a constitution, reform their Cabinet and appoint a prime minister. These are among the steps outlined in a so-called road map that the quartet believes will eventually lead to peace and Palestinian statehood.

Friday morning, after Arafat met once again with quartet representatives, his guards summoned reporters waiting outside. Arafat stood before them, flanked by foreigners, and read from a prepared statement.

“I have decided to appoint a prime minister,” he said. “I will call for an immediate meeting of the Palestinian Legislative Council and the [Palestine Liberation Organization’s] Central Council to discuss this decision and to take the needed measures.”

Arafat can’t appoint a prime minister without the approval of lawmakers. But the fledgling Palestinian government is barely functioning. Palestinian legislators haven’t met in months because of roadblocks, curfews and travel restrictions. Instead, the lawmakers talk by telephone and videoconference.

“This is a joke, and if it happens, it’s not going to be taken seriously by the majority of the Palestinian public,” Khatib said. “This is not the way to develop a political system. This is not our priority. Our priorities are people getting killed every day, checkpoints, curfews.”

Cautious negotiators greeted Arafat’s announcement as a beginning but said it was too early to judge what might happen.

“The important thing now is to test the quartet’s ability to stop Israeli aggression,” said Saeb Erekat, chief negotiator for Arafat. “It’s too early to talk about names and candidates -- there are legal and political measures that must be taken to change the basic laws.”

But privately, the names of a few potential candidates were already circulating, including Arafat aides Ahmed Korei and Mahmoud Abbas. Negotiators were reportedly leaning toward Salam Fayyad, a former International Monetary Fund official who was something of a political outsider until he was appointed Palestinian Authority finance minister last summer.