New Cabinet For Palestine
Palestine Media Center
30 April, 2003The Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) on Tuesday approved the prime minister-designate Mahmud Abbas’ cabinet by 51 votes in favor, 18 against and three abstentions, reviving hopes of a breakthrough in Middle East peace efforts, amid Palestinian calls for the immediate release and implementation of the internationally-adopted “roadmap” for regional peace.
“I’m very happy with this democracy. I’m very happy for all those who voted for and against. I hope the government will live up to everybody's expectations,” Abbas said in his acceptance speech as the first Palestinian premier ever.
The PLC Speaker Ahmed Qurei also hailed the evolving Palestinian democracy.
“This was a very good session and a very responsible action by all the deputies. This is a very strong foundation for a Palestinian democracy which believes in accountability and transparency.” He stressed.
Arafat Stresses National Unity
President Yasser Arafat, who shook hands with Abbas before the PLC session and smiled warmly during his speech, addressed the lawmakers and said the Palestine National Authority (PNA) is ready to resume security coordination with Israel.
He also said that the Palestinian security forces were ready to take over if the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) withdrew from areas reoccupied since the conflict began 31 months ago, including most of the West Bank.
Moreover, Arafat urged national dialogue to strengthen the unity of the Palestinian people.
“The Palestinian cabinet should work laboriously for strengthening our national unity,” said Arafat, calling for a “real peace and real security.”
He stressed that the cabinet should carry out a “national dialogue,” with all factions. He also called on Israel to end its occupation of Palestinian land and end its attacks and targeted killings and to withdraw its occupying troops.
Furthermore, the Palestinian leader said national unity was the source of Palestinian “steadfastness” in the face of Israel’s “destructive military machine.”
Abbas: Israel Must Dismantle Settlements
In a powerful speech aimed at breaking the deadlock in the Middle East peace process, Abbas pledged action on key Palestinian as well as Israeli demands to crack down on illegal weapons, corruption and incitement to violence.
“To end the disorder and the chaos of weapons ... will be one of the main tasks of the government,” Abbas said, adding that security forces alone would be allowed to carry weapons.
He added that, “The government will in particular concentrate its attention on the security of Palestinian citizens and their safety in their homeland. The government will ... pay most attention to the professional qualifications of members of security departments and will not be lenient towards any violation” by security force members.
Promising a pluralist society, he also said he would not tolerate incitement to violence, another key Israeli precondition for pushing ahead with the peace process.
“We call on the opposition factions to develop their dialogue and to stop the language of provocation,” said the Secretary General of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), whose appointment last month as prime minister was seen as a key step forward in Palestinian reforms.
However, Abbas, whose cabinet parliament was set to approve making him the first ever Palestinian prime minister, said Israel must also take major steps by dismantling Israeli settlements and agreeing to implement the “roadmap” without amendments.
He emphasized that further progress would hinge on Israel’s removal of settlements where hundreds of thousands of Israelis live in the occupied Palestinian territory, and which are considered illegal by the international community.
“There will be a real peace only without settlements. You have to choose,” he said in a message to the Israeli people.
“We reject terrorism from any party and in all its forms. We extend our hand in negotiation,” Abu Mazen added.
Roadmap Is for Implementation, Not for Negotiation
Meanwhile, Abbas rejected Israeli calls for changes to the roadmap for peace; a plan US President George W. Bush has promised to publish once the new Palestinian cabinet has been sworn in, and which sets out the stages to ending the 31-month Palestinian-Israeli conflict and creating a Palestinian state within three years.
“We don’t accept any changes in the roadmap as the Israelis are demanding. The roadmap is for implementation not for negotiation.” Abu Mazen said.
Israel has made several reservations on the “roadmap”, but Abbas, who has called for a suspension of anti-Israeli-occupation attacks, said, “We are ready to face our responsibility from the political and security point of view.”
Most Palestinian deputies reacted positively to Abbas’ speech but warned that the new premier could face serious obstacles coming from Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s government.
Independent MP Hanan Ashrawi said, “It’s a very ambitious plan. We have to see if it can be implemented on the ground. There are great difficulties, mainly coming from the Israelis, which could affect it.”
US, Russia Welcome
Meanwhile, the White House welcomed the Palestinian parliament’s approval of Abbas’ cabinet and said it would “shortly” release the so-called “roadmap” to Middle East peace.
“The president looks forward to working with the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian people as well as the Israeli government and Israeli people to advance the cause of peace,” said spokesman Ari Fleischer.
“The United States will shortly release the road map formally to the various parties. Our hope is that they will work diligently and hard to advance the cause of peace, and we will welcome their contributions to the road map,” he added.
But US Secretary of State Colin Powell, who had planned to visit Israel and the Palestinian Territory within the next week, said he had radically altered his initial itinerary of a sweeping tour of the Middle East.
Powell’s announcement came after he decided it was too early to press for implementation of the “roadmap”, US officials said.
Abbas “has some work to do and I don’t want to burden him with a visit on day one,” Powell told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in Washington.
Similarly, Russia hailed the Palestinian parliament’s approval of the new premier and his cabinet as a new chance for peace, Russia’s Middle East envoy Andrei Vdovin said as quoted by the ITAR-TASS news agency Wednesday.
“The approval of the prime minister (Mahmud Abbas) and his cabinet gives a real chance to stop violence and peacefully resolve the conflict in the region,” Vdovin said.
“This clears the way for the roadmap peace plan to be published,” the Russian diplomat added.
The roadmap’s publication has been delayed six times since it was drafted last December, causing mounting Palestinian frustration.
The “roadmap” -- completed in December by a diplomatic “Quartet” consisting of the European Union, the United States, Russia and the United Nations -- envisages creating a Palestinian state by 2005.
Vdovin also welcomed Abbas’s speech to the parliament, which he said was “a symbol of readiness to turn over the page of armed conflict and re-launch the peace process with Israel.”
“Russia considers Abbas’s words that terrorism in all its forms is unacceptable and that the armed conflict must be stopped very seriously, as the prime minister's pledge,” Vdovin added.
Israel Cautious, PNA Sees Real Chance for Peace
Meanwhile on Tuesday, Palestinian minister of negotiations Sa’eb Erekat said he believes there is a real chance of renewing the stalled peace process.
“I think today the focus should be on one thing: there is chance tonight that Palestinians and Israelis have a serious chance for re-engagement in the peace process,” Erekat told CNN television.
“There is a chance to revive hope in the minds of Palestinians and Israelis which has been absent for the last two-and-a-half years,” said Erekat, named negotiations minister in the new cabinet of Mahmud Abbas.
“I really hope that President (George W.) Bush can introduce the roadmap immediately and without any further delay for the sake of Palestinian and Israelis,” he said.
Meanwhile Israel reacted cautiously.
It is a “good beginning,” said Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, but PM Abbas will be judged “by his actions and not his declarations,” he added.