Palestinian rift puts peace plan at risk

HOPES that reformist Palestinian prime minister-designate Mahmud Abbas will declare a cabinet were fading yesterday after he said he would no longer discuss the formation of a new government with Yasser Arafat.

The White House said Tuesday that it was “important” for Palestinians to pursue political reforms, even as hopes faded that their reformist prime minister-designate would create a cabinet.

“It’s important for the Palestinian people that reforms move forward,” spokesman Ari Fleischer said after Mahmud Abbas made his statement.

Abbas has until midnight tomorrow (9pm, Irish time) to name a new cabinet or step aside, jeopardising the chances for an international peace plan, or “roadmap,” which US President George W Bush has said he will release when the moderate new leader has revealed his line-up.

As international pressure piled on Arafat to back down, frantic last- minute discussions were underway in Fatah, the faction the two men founded together more than 40 years ago, to find a way out of the impasse.

“Things have broken down between me and Arafat. I will not come back,” Abbas was quoted as saying by one mediator close to efforts to jump-start talks between the two leaders. The attempt failed late Saturday with Abbas walking out and threatening to quit.

The international community has pinned its hopes of overhauling the Palestinian leadership and renewing the peace process on Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen. Israel and Washington accuse Arafat of fuelling violence and want him replaced.

In a last-ditch effort to save the talks, parliamentary speaker Ahmed Qorei was sent to meet Abbas to try to persuade him to come back.

But one parliamentarian said that the chances of bridging the gap between the two men was “very, very weak.”

Abbas stormed out of talks on Saturday over Arafat’s refusal to accept his nomination of Mohammed Dahlan, one of the few men believed to be willing and able to take on Palestinian armed groups, as his security chief. Arafat was said to want to retain control of the key security forces for himself.

But insiders said the issue was even broader, with Arafat fearing he will be totally eclipsed by Abbas, who has already been invited to visit Washington once he is office.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi both phoned Arafat yesterday to discuss the cabinet crisis, the Palestinian news agency WAFA said.

Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom also expressed concern to US Secretary of State Colin Powell over the struggle for power between Abbas, a foreign ministry spokesman said.