Arafat names cabinet committed to reform

YASSER ARAFAT presented a new cabinet on Tuesday and said he remains committed to internal reform, but he accused Israel of demanding change in his government as a pretext for destroying the Palestinian Authority.

The Palestinian Parliament was expected to approve the 19-member cabinet, even though it closely resembles the cabinet legislators forced to resign earlier this month.

"We need Palestinian reform that helps Palestinian objectives," Arafat told legislators. "The Israeli government is using the reform issue as a way of destroying the Palestinian Authority."

In a wide-ranging speech, Arafat also reiterated he opposes attacks on civilians, whether Palestinians or Israelis. "We believe everybody has a right to live. We do condemn terrorist attacks, which target civilians, everywhere in the world," he said.

Israel accuses Arafat of having done nothing to prevent attacks by Palestinian militias or even encouraging some acts of terror.

Palestinian officials say a fledgling challenge to Arafat's power by Palestinian politicians was crushed by Israel's 10-day siege of Arafat's headquarters in the wake of a deadly suicide bombing in Israel September and by repeated US and Israeli demands that Arafat be sidelined.

In meetings with rebellious legislators, Arafat has portrayed a vote against his government as a show of support for Israel and the United States.

In the West Bank, Israeli troops killed a suspected Islamic militant in his hide-out and demolished the home of another Hamas suspect. Soldiers also dismantled an illegal Jewish settlement outpost without meeting resistance. Last week, settlers scuffled with troops trying to drag them away.

The growing dispute over settlements is threatening to bring down prime minister Ariel Sharon's coalition government and force early elections.

Sharon has said he will try to form a narrow coalition of right-wing and religious parties if his junior partner, the moderate Labour party, votes against the 2003 state budget Wednesday, as expected, to protest what it sees as excessive spending on settlements.

But Sharon's coalition chairman, Zeev Boim, said Tuesday "the more realistic scenario is there will be no choice for the Prime Minister but ... to seek early elections within 90 days."

Sharon's Cabinet secretary, Gideon Saar, said that a new US-backed peace plan in its current form is not acceptable because it is based, in part, on an Arab proposal calling for Israeli withdrawal from all occupied lands and affirming Palestinian refugees' right of return. Both sides have reservations about the plan.