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Palestinians Urged to Stave Off Abbas Defeat in Trust Vote
Arab News, Agencies
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, 31 August 2003 — The Israeli and US governments have called on Palestinians to prevent a defeat of Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas in a vote of confidence next Thursday, Israeli media reports said yesterday.
Leaders of both countries have made it clear that there would be no cooperation with a new government composed of supporters of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat. They also said that a vote against Abbas’ government would damage implementation of the international peace plan and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.
Israel blames Arafat for driving the vote against Abbas and claims he wants to replace the current Cabinet with a “puppet government.” Abbas has been in a constant power struggle with Arafat since coming to power earlier this year. Although Arafat is increasingly isolated from international circles, he enjoys considerably more support among the Palestinian people than Abbas.
In Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov called on Arafat to support Abbas in his efforts to crack down on militancy, a Foreign Ministry statement said.
Ivanov told Arafat during a telephone conversation that Abbas’ efforts against militancy “need constant support, including from Yasser Arafat,” the statement said. “The Palestinian administration must act decisively to prevent militant attacks, speed up unification of security services and do everything to dismantle extremist networks,” it quoted Ivanov as saying. Arafat and Abbas are tussling for control of the multi-headed Palestinian security apparatus.
Abbas currently controls three branches of the Palestinian security apparatus — the civil police, civil defense and preventive security force. The 35,000-40,000 strong national security force and other branches such as intelligence, the navy and border police, are still under Arafat’s command. Abbas needs full control of the security services to fulfil pledges he and his security minister Mohammed Dahlan made to take on militant groups following an Aug. 19 bus bombing in Jerusalem that left 21 people dead.
The Palestinian leadership began a crackdown on Hamas, the radical group, on Thursday, freezing bank accounts belonging to charities linked to it. Israel has consistently accused the Palestinian authorities of failing to take on the militants and has tried to marginalize Arafat, but Russia still considers the veteran Palestinian leader to be an important player.
Russia, along with the European Union, the United Nations and the United States, is one of four co-sponsors of the road map for Middle East peace, which is under severe strain following an upsurge in violence in recent weeks.
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| Earth, a planet hungry for peace |
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03). |
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers in the West Bank (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03). |
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