Arafat’s Premier Tries to Resign

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ahmed Korei, citing a “state of chaos” in the Gaza Strip and in the fractious Palestinian security services, submitted his resignation Saturday to President Yasser Arafat, who refused to accept it.

Korei’s bid to step down, which he insists he will not rescind, throws the Palestinian political scene into disarray. He would be the second prime minister to quit in less than a year -- and the second to try without success to get Arafat to accept reforms demanded by international mediators and, increasingly, by Palestinians themselves.

The backdrop of this latest upheaval is Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s plan to pull out from Gaza by the end of next year. Already, a power vacuum appears to be emerging in the narrow, crowded seaside strip.

The immediate trigger for Korei’s decision was a particularly lawless day in Gaza on Friday, during which four French nationals and two Palestinian security officials -- including the territory’s Arafat-appointed police chief -- were the victims of brazen daylight abductions by armed Palestinian militants. All were eventually freed unharmed.

But Gaza’s volatility is not the only factor behind Korei’s wish to step aside. The 66-year-old prime minister has for months been stymied in efforts to persuade Arafat, 74, to relinquish personal control of the dozen branches of the Palestinian security services, a disorderly melange of about 40,000 men at arms split into various competing fiefdoms in the West Bank and Gaza.

Ordinary Palestinians, suffering ever-greater daily hardships as the current conflict with Israel drags on toward its fifth year, are increasingly angry over rampant corruption in Arafat’s Palestinian Authority, the governing body created nearly a decade ago under now-crumbled interim peace accords.

Militant groups like Hamas -- whose Islamist leaders are generally viewed as more ascetic in nature, shunning personal financial gain stemming from their positions -- have been able to tap into deep popular discontent over the long-running spectacle of Arafat’s inner circle enriching itself.

It was unclear whether Korei would carry through with his stated intention to quit. Brinkmanship is a common feature of Palestinian political life; his predecessor, Mahmoud Abbas, made several such threats before finally stepping down in September.

With the status of Korei’s government in limbo, the Palestinian Cabinet was to convene Monday to discuss its options, senior officials said. But several associates said they did not believe Korei would agree to stay on.

“He will not withdraw” the resignation, Jamal Shoubaki, the minister for local government, told reporters in Ramallah after Korei briefed his Cabinet.

“We have a crisis,” said Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat, formerly the chief Palestinian negotiator. “We have witnessed a grave deterioration in the Gaza Strip, and we hope the rule of law can be maintained.”

Israeli critics of Sharon said Korei’s action underscored the breakdown of Palestinian governmental institutions during the nearly 46-month-old conflict. Palestinian militant groups, some with a decided bent toward vigilantism, lately have assumed a dominant social role in Palestinian cities and towns, especially in the northern West Bank and in Gaza.

“Sharon’s policy to destroy the Palestinian Authority’s infrastructure was mistaken, since it was replaced by anarchy and gangs,” prominent leftist lawmaker Yossi Beilin told Israel’s army radio.

Sharon’s camp, however, called the turn of events proof that Israel had been right to refuse any dealings with Arafat for more than two years.

“The anarchy and clashes show that in the foreseeable future, Israel will have no trustworthy partner among the Palestinians,” said an official in Sharon’s office, according to Israeli television.

A senior Bush administration official was cautious about saying what the turmoil would mean for the Palestinian government, but doubted that it would set back Sharon’s plan for withdrawal from Gaza.

The U.S. official, who asked not to be named, said the action showed once more how the Palestinians have lost opportunities to “get their act together ... and how Arafat’s political games have screwed up the Palestinian Authority again and again.”

Gaza -- which is poorer, more densely populated and more politically radical than the West Bank -- has grown restive in the months since Sharon announced his initiative to withdraw Jewish settlers and Israeli troops by the end of 2005.

That has set off a chaotic struggle for control, not only between Israeli troops and Palestinian militant groups, each determined not to appear the defeated party, but also among and within various Palestinian factions as well.

The string of abductions prompted Korei’s government to declare a state of emergency in Gaza on Saturday, though it was unclear whether police forces -- who are loyal to Arafat -- are in any position to keep order in Gaza.

“This is a genuine disaster,” Korei told reporters before he headed into his meeting with Arafat. “This is a level of chaos that we have never seen before.”

Arafat, as he often does under pressure, sought to appear amenable to urgent demands being put to him.

After Korei went to Arafat’s half-wrecked headquarters Saturday morning and presented a letter of resignation, Arafat aide Nabil abu Rudaineh emerged to announce that the veteran leader had agreed to streamline the security forces and reshuffle top jobs.

Among the officials Arafat dismissed was Ghazi Jabali, the Gaza police chief who had been abducted a day earlier by gunmen who paraded him through an impoverished refugee camp and accused him of embezzling funds.

But the new security lineup also consisted of longtime Arafat loyalists, including his first cousin Moussa Arafat, a move that led to a protest in Gaza City by thousands of demonstrators, witnesses said.

The senior U.S. official said it was not clear whether the authority’s latest claim of reorganizing and centralizing security services would turn out to be a real step to bring them under control.

He said that if the security organizations were brought under better control, it would probably help the Sharon withdrawal plan. But he said that even if there was no improvement, it would probably have little effect, since Sharon had a low opinion of the Palestinian leadership and was planning the withdrawal “because he’s decided he needs to do that for Israel.”

Korei, who is widely known as Abu Ala, was appointed to his post in September. His predecessor, Abbas, quit after serving only four months, during which his efforts to restart peace talks with Israel were frustrated by Arafat.

Whereas Abbas was seen as harming his own street credibility by seeming too conciliatory toward Israel, Korei has taken the opposite tack, adopting an openly skeptical tone regarding Israeli intentions.

But perhaps as a result, he has not yet had a face-to-face meeting with Sharon -- even though attacks by Palestinian militants inside Israel have dropped off sharply in recent months. Israeli leaders often make a period of relative calm a precondition for meeting with their Palestinian counterparts.

One face-saving option for both Arafat and Korei could be that Arafat give the prime minister the go-ahead to form a new government while staying on as its head. That would give Korei an opportunity to clear his Cabinet of those he believes are impeding reform efforts.

The Palestinian political turmoil comes as Israel is girding for an expected vote at the United Nations on Monday over the barrier it is building in the West Bank. This month, the International Court of Justice, the U.N.’s highest tribunal, branded the barrier illegal, and Palestinians are seeking a General Assembly resolution reflecting the court’s advisory opinion.

Israel has signaled it would use the Gaza unrest as an argument in favor of walling off the West Bank.

“They should not lecture anyone about the rule of law or accuse others of being outlaws -- we have indeed reached the point where the inmates are running the asylum,” Israeli Ambassador Dan Gillerman told General Assembly delegates last week.

Palestinian lawmaker Ziad abu Zayyad, however, said the infighting could be attributed to a deepening sense of despair among Palestinians -- and declared that Israel would do well to pay close attention to its consequences.

“The young generation sees no hope for the future, and the credibility of the Palestinian Authority has been so badly damaged, because it’s not able to function,” he said. “Israelis have to understand that if the house next to yours is burning down, yours may as well.”

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Times staff writer Paul Richter in Washington contributed to this report.