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January 10, 2003/Shevat 7 5763, Vol. 55, No. 20
Bombing allows Arafat to dodge political bullet
GIL SEDAN
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
JERUSALEM - Internal and external pressures have been building on Yasser Arafat to allow comprehensive reforms of the Palestinian Authority - reforms that effectively would undermine the P.A. president's grip on power.
But after a deadly attack by the Al-Aksa Brigade Jan. 5, a terrorist group from Arafat's own Fatah movement, Israel refused to allow Palestinian officials to attend a conference on P.A. reform in London or congregate in Ramallah to consider a draft of a Palestinian constitution.
Unintentionally, however, the Israeli moves may have allowed Arafat to dodge a political bullet, at least temporarily.
The PLO Central Council was scheduled to convene Jan. 9 for what Palestinians described as a "key step in reforms," ratifying a Palestinian Authority constitution.
It would have been the PLO council's first meeting in two years. The draft constitution calls for a series of reforms, most notably the appointment of a prime minister to serve alongside the president.
The Central Council also was scheduled to study the latest draft of a "road map" toward Israeli-Palestinian peace prepared by the diplomatic "Quartet" of the United States, Russia, United Nations and the European Union.
The plan calls for an independent Palestinian state by 2005 - provided the Palestinians end terrorism and establish an accountable government.
After the Jan. 5 double suicide bombing, Israel decided not to allow the PLO members to convene. It also blocked other Palestinian officials from traveling to London for the conference on reform.
Yet the postponement was only temporary.
"Sooner or later the council will convene and deliberate," said Res. Col. Shalom Harari, a research fellow at the Inter-Disciplinary Center in Herzliyah. "The question will be, of course, what kind of decisions it will reach, and how they will be implemented."
Though Arafat says he supports reform, he has been eager to stall the appointment of a prime minister, which could leave Arafat as a figurehead president.
The Palestinian Authority also indefinitely postponed presidential and parliamentary elections set for Jan. 20, saying it was impossible to conduct a vote while Israeli troops occupy West Bank cities and enforce curfews.
Arafat also faced a challenge over his appointment of a new prosecutor-general. The Palestinian Lawyers Union was incensed by Arafat's decision to appoint his crony Khaled Qidra by presidential decree.
Al-Kidreh was the chief prosecutor in the P.A.'s state security court, which has passed several death sentences on Palestinians accused of collaborating with Israel. Many of the trials began and ended within several hours, without proper defense for the accused and no right of appeal, according to human rights groups.
Palestinian lawyers struggling to set up a proper legal process in the Palestinian Authority say Al-Kidreh is one of the officials largely responsible for the legal chaos apparent even before the outbreak of the intifada two years ago.
Israel has accused Arafat of sabotaging previous attempts at a cease-fire. This time, though, he would seem to have a vested interest in preventing attacks: Labor Party leader Amram Mitzna has declared that if Labor wins the elections he will negotiate with the Palestinians "without preconditions."
If the PLO Central Council does eventually convene, one source estimated that it would take several weeks before the draft constitution would move on to its next destination.
The bottom line is that the constitution, and the accompanying reforms, will have to wait. It will take at least until after the Israeli elections, possibly until after the war in Iraq - and probably until Arafat is no longer around.
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