Palestinians’ Abbas Makes Ultimatum

Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas asked parliament Thursday to either support him or strip him of his post, saying infighting is keeping him from making progress on a U.S.-backed peace plan.

Weakened by a power struggle with Yasser Arafat, Abbas told legislators he must be given full power to carry out reforms required by the “road map” peace plan. If the demand is met, Abbas would have a stronger hand against militants he is pressing to stop attacks against Israelis.

Abbas, summing up his first 100 days in office, stopped short of seeking a vote of confidence that could topple him, but said he is leaving his future in parliament’s hands.

“I am not attached to this post and I am not (making) and will not make any effort to keep this post. It is a difficult mission that many describe as impossible,” Abbas said.

At the start of the parliamentary session, about 200 activists in Arafat’s Fatah movement demonstrated in support of their leader. Seven masked men from the crowd broke down a door to the building and smashed windows before unarmed guards forced them out.

Also Thursday, Palestinian gunmen shot and killed an Israeli soldier in an ambush near the West Bank town of Jenin. The Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade, an armed group loosely linked to Fatah, claimed responsibility.

Parliament scheduled a closed-door session Saturday to meet with Abbas again and discuss his demands, after which legislators were to decide whether to hold a confidence vote – possibly by next week. Several legislators said they feared a vote would be too divisive and said one might not be called at all.

Abbas’ appeal is the latest chapter in a power struggle that began just after Arafat, under strong international pressure, appointed him in April. The two wrangled over Abbas’ Cabinet choices and Arafat has refused to give him complete control over Palestinian security forces.

Abbas would have more sway over militant groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad if he fully controlled the armed services, but Arafat doesn’t want to give up one of his last concrete sources of power.

In his speech, Abbas only hinted at his conflict with Arafat, saying there were “problems” between his government and the Palestinian leadership.

Yet, he said that “without a legitimate force in the hands of one authority … we will not advance one step on the political track” – a reference to the road map, which foresees Palestinian statehood by 2005.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher praised Abbas for pursuing progress on the peace plan and seeking to unify security forces. The Palestinians, Boucher said, “can only get a state by ending terrorism.”

At the United Nations, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in a statement Thursday the road map “remains, if fully and fairly implemented, the best way to reach an independent and viable Palestinian state.”

“We must not allow the renewed cycle of deadly violence to divert us from it,” the statement said. It was read by Kieran Prendergast, undersecretary-general for political affairs, to a forum organized by the U.N. Committee on the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People.

The road map requires that the Palestinians dismantle militant groups. Abbas has said he wants to persuade them to disarm, but told parliament he will not order a crackdown.

“This government does not deal with the opposition groups with a policing mentality, but with a mentality of dialogue,” he said.

Getting parliament’s support would help Abbas in his confrontation with Arafat. Defeat would allow him to step down without being blamed for the consequences, such as the possible collapse of the road map.

Though Abbas has little support among Palestinians, there appears to be a widespread understanding that his ouster could deal a heavy blow to efforts toward statehood.

Israel has warned of dire consequences if Abbas is ousted, saying it will not do business with a government picked by Arafat. Several Palestinian legislators have said U.S. diplomats told them Washington might lower its profile as a Mideast mediator if Abbas is toppled.

Abbas portrayed a unilateral cease-fire, declared by the armed groups June 29, as his main achievement so far. He accused Israel of sabotaging the truce with arrest raids, and of evading its obligations under the peace plan.

Militants carried out reprisal bombings for the Israeli raids, including one Aug. 19 in which 21 people were killed on a bus. Israel, in response, killed a senior Hamas leader in a missile strike, prompting Hamas and Islamic Jihad to abandon the truce.

Abbas said the United States did not do enough to stop what he called “Israeli provocations” during the period of relative calm.

Israel also has not frozen Jewish settlement construction in the West Bank and Gaza, or dismantled settlement outposts established since 2001, as called for by the road map.

Abbas assured legislators he respects Arafat’s position as elected leader. He renewed a call for the United States to rethink its policy of refusing to work with Arafat, who has been confined to his West Bank headquarters by Israeli troops for nearly two years.

The Palestinian U.N. representative, Nasser al-Kidwa, said the Palestinians remain committed to the road map.

“What is necessary now is to revitalize the road map,” he said. “It needs a new beginning – but a serious beginning, involving the genuine commitment on both sides to comply with the road map. We are ready to do that.”

Also Thursday, Abbas announced the appointment of legislator and Arafat confidant Saeb Erekat as chief of negotiations with Israel. In May, Erekat resigned as Cabinet minister in charge of negotiations after Abbas excluded him from a summit with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

In the West Bank near Jenin, meanwhile, Palestinian youths hurled stones at troops who were searching for militants, and soldiers returned fire with rubber bullets, witnesses said. One 14-year-old boy was wounded in the abdomen, hospital officials said.