Palestinian Prime Minister Abbas Resigns

Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, increasingly unpopular and worn out by a power struggle with Yasser Arafat, resigned Saturday. Within hours, Israel bombed a Gaza City building where top Hamas leaders were meeting, lightly wounding the group’s founder.

Arafat told lawmakers in a meeting later Saturday that Abbas now heads a caretaker government, implying that he had accepted the resignation. However, some Palestinian officials said that for that acceptance to become formal, Arafat would have to send a letter to Abbas – which he had not done.

Arafat also said he had called meetings for Sunday with his Fatah faction to begin discussions about the leadership crisis.

Still, Abbas’ resignation dealt a further blow to the U.S.-backed “road map” peace plan, leaving Israel and the United States without a negotiating partner as both refuse to speak with Arafat.

In Israel’s latest strike against Palestinian militants, a warplane dropped a bomb on a Gaza City building. Senior Israeli military officials confirmed said was an attempt to wipe out the Islamic group’s top three leaders as they assembled for a meeting.

Hamas founder and spiritual leader Sheik Ahmed Yassin – the highest-ranking Hamas leader to be targeted by Israel – was lightly wounded in his hand, Hamas officials said.

Fifteen bystanders also were wounded in the strike, which hit a hit a third-floor apartment in the building, belonging to well-known Hamas activist Marwan Abu Rass. Another senior Hamas official, Ismail Hanieh, was also in the building with Yassin.

Bodyguards carried Yassin, who is a quadriplegic, from the building and took him away in a car. During the attack, Yassin’s distinctive brown Land Rover, driven by his son, was parked outside the building.

The Israeli officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the strike failed because a relatively small amount of explosives – 550 pounds – was used in an effort to avoid killing bystanders.

Abbas’ departure after only four months in office meant even greater uncertainty for the “road map” plan, already in serious trouble because of a major spike in violence in recent weeks and the collapse of a unilateral truce by militants.

In comments to more than 80 legislators, Arafat left lawmakers bewildered about whether he had accepted the resignation of Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen.

“In the meeting, Arafat accepted Abu Mazen’s resignation and declared his government a caretaker government,” legislator Hanan Ashrawi told The Associated Press. Ashrawi said she asked Arafat if the resignation had been accepted, and he said, “What else could it mean?”

Another lawmaker, Mohammed Houranim, also said he interpreted Arafat’s statement as accepting the resignation.

But lawmaker and chief Palestinian negotiator with the Israelis, Saeb Erekat, told CNN that for a resignation to become official, Arafat had to send a “letter in writing” to Abbas.

“This did not happen so I think it’s premature to jump to conclusions,” he said, adding that it was now a caretaker government “full empowered, especially about the road map and Palestinian obligations, to take decisions.”

He said Arafat could ultimately turn to Abbas again and ask him to form a new government.

Israel reiterated Saturday it will not accept a government controlled by Arafat or one of his loyalists.

“Israel is monitoring the developments, and says it will not accept a state of affairs in which control over the Palestinian Authority reverts back to Yasser Arafat or one of his loyalists,” said a statement from the office of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

Abbas’ departure was expected to further hurt Arafat’s international standing if he is seen as having engineered the prime minister’s departure.

It could also lower the threshold for possible Israeli action against Arafat; Israel’s defense minister has raised the possibility of sending the Palestinian leader into exile.

Israeli Cabinet Minister Danny Naveh on Saturday called for Arafat’s ouster, Israel Army Radio said. Other government officials withheld comment Saturday, and Israel’s position on the matter remained unclear.

Abbas, who might have been ousted anyhow in a confidence vote in parliament next week, had his resignation letter delivered to Arafat by two senior officials Saturday before addressing the legislature in a closed-door session to explain his decision.

Palestinian officials said they feared the resignation would lead the region into further chaos.

“We are entering a new crisis and the price of this crisis will be the shedding of a lot of blood,” said Kadoura Fares, a legislator from the ruling Fatah movement.

Abbas had been frustrated by the constant wrangling with Arafat, his aides said. He was also hurt by the near-collapse of the road map and his inability to improve the daily lives of Palestinians.

On Thursday, when Abbas addressed legislators, he was heckled and shoved by an angry crowd of Arafat supporters, including several armed and masked men.

Even if he hadn’t resigned, Abbas might have been forced out. He faced a vote of confidence in parliament in the coming days, and there was growing dissatisfaction in parliament with his performance and his difficulties with Arafat.

Abbas’ resignation could also end up being a blow to Arafat, even if at first it appeared the veteran leader had outmaneuvered his politically inexperienced prime minister.

Israel’s defense minister, Shaul Mofaz, said earlier this week that Israel might have to expel Arafat before the end of the year, if Arafat keeps getting into the way of peace efforts. Israeli analysts have said Abbas’ departure was one scenario in which Israel might decide to act.

Until now, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has held back on expulsion, both because of U.S. opposition and because of warnings from his security advisers that sending Arafat abroad would do more harm than keeping him relatively isolated at his West Bank headquarters.

Abbas and Arafat have been at odds ever since Arafat appointed the prime minister under intense international pressure in April. The latest standoff was over control of the security forces. Abbas, backed by the United States, demanded command over all men under arms, but Arafat refused to relinquish control over four of the eight security branches.

Abbas had said he would not clamp down on militants as required by the U.S.-backed “road map” peace plan. However, being in control of all the security forces would have given him greater authority in renewed negotiations with Hamas, Islamic Jihad and renegades from his own Fatah movement.

Earlier this week, Abbas told parliament it must either back him or strip him of his post, saying he was not clinging to the job and would just as soon step down.