Palestinian Lawmakers OK New Cabinet; Most Arafat Loyalists Out

Palestinian lawmakers ended days of rancorous debate Thursday and broke with the legacy of Yasser Arafat, giving their approval to a reformist Cabinet filled with technocrats and newcomers and nearly devoid of the late president’s loyalists.

The 24 ministers, nearly three-quarters of them freshmen and two of them women, were sworn in late Thursday and were to start work today as the Palestinian Authority’s first post-Arafat government.

In a sign of how the political scene has shifted since Arafat’s death in November, the lineup includes only a couple of people, including Deputy Prime Minister Nabil Shaath, who are considered part of the old guard that surrounded Arafat.

Shaath, who also has the information portfolio, is the Cabinet’s only elected legislator. Most of the new ministers are academics and professionals, a concession by Prime Minister Ahmed Korei to lawmakers who had insisted that the government abandon the cronyism and corruption of past years in favor of expertise.

Analysts described the Cabinet as an important step for President Mahmoud Abbas, who was elected last month as the Palestinians’ top leader on promises of change in the government and in its dealings with Israel.

The Cabinet ministers will serve only until a new legislature is elected in July. And the fractiousness of Palestinian politics is unlikely to vanish any time soon. Still, many of the newly minted ministers espouse reform and are thought more likely to support an agenda of cleaning up the government.

“They are young and professional, and I think they are capable of carrying out their jobs,” Abbas told reporters. “We have chosen them very carefully.”

It wasn’t without a fight. The Palestinian Legislative Council refused to sign off on Korei’s previous slates, forcing the prime minister -- who was one of Arafat’s intimates -- to overhaul the list several times. Each successive roster had fewer and fewer veterans, to satisfy the demands of junior lawmakers who have become increasingly emboldened in challenging the power of former Arafat loyalists.

Final approval seemed assured after Abbas intervened Wednesday, encouraging the hesitant to vote in favor of the latest lineup.

In contrast to previous days of debate, some of which stretched into the early morning, lawmakers Thursday ratified the Cabinet virtually without discussion by a comfortable margin, on a vote of 54 to 12. Some of them congratulated and embraced some of the candidates even before the vote was called.

The new slate is still dominated by Arafat’s long-ruling but division-ridden Fatah faction. Abbas and Korei are Fatah members, as are a majority of the lawmakers. That could undermine some of the new government’s credibility, said Ziad abu Amr, a Fatah lawmaker.

“It excludes people from other political persuasions, and I’m not sure that the public has received this Cabinet with any enthusiasm,” he said.

Shaath, acknowledging the differences among legislators and officials, said it was time to look ahead and cooperate.

“There is a lot of work to be done to assure national unity, to ensure that law and order is really restored, to ensure that reconstruction is implemented and to continue the process of peace to end the occupation,” he said. “There is a big challenge [ahead], and I hope this Cabinet will be up to it.”

The new government faces the daunting task of rebuilding an economy and reviving hope among a people shattered by 4 1/2 years of recent conflict with Israel. Abbas, 69, has advocated an end to armed struggle and secured an informal cease-fire between Israel and Palestinian militants as his administration gets off the ground.

To succeed, Abbas will have to establish order among the Palestinian security forces, a chaotic, bickering array of groups that Arafat refused to relinquish control of and played against one another. Under pressure from Abbas, Korei appointed Nasser Yousef, a tough-talking ex-general, as interior minister.

Mohammed Dahlan, a candidate for interior minister in the past, with wide experience in security and in negotiating with Israel, was given the civil affairs portfolio and pledged to turn all security matters over to Yousef. “Now I believe it should be the responsibility of the new minister of interior,” he said.

Perhaps the most prominent name left off the list was Saeb Erekat, a perennial in Palestinian governments. He has been criticized as an example of the cronyism that many lawmakers want purged in order to build a healthy democracy.

As opposition to his inclusion mounted in recent days, Erekat withdrew from consideration, saying he wanted to focus on his continuing role as the Palestinian Authority’s chief negotiator with Israel.

Finance Minister Salam Fayyad, who has earned international praise for bringing a measure of transparency and honesty to the Palestinian government’s accounting, retained his post. The foreign minister is Nasser Kidwa, a nephew of Arafat who once served as the Palestinians’ representative to the United Nations.

Israel, which mostly has kept quiet on internal Palestinian politics, issued a reserved response to the new Cabinet.

“The appointment of a new government is only one step in a long road, and the key issue is what path this new government will choose,” Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said.

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Special correspondent Maher Abukhater in the West Bank city of Ramallah contributed to this report.