Crisis for Arafat as Cabinet falls

Palestinian leader humiliated

Arafat's critics said the humiliation dished out yesterday to the man who has single-handedly ruled the Palestinian movement for decades was an indication of grass-roots dissatisfaction over a regime accused of corruption and inefficiency.

Salah Taameri, a legendary Palestinian fighter-turned-politician, said he had been an Arafat ally for 36 years, but "there is a crisis of confidence" and he was supporting the opposition.

"I hope President Arafat ... will wake up and start to understand that the people around him are not satisfying the Palestinians' needs," said Jibril Rajoub, recently sacked by Arafat from his position as West Bank security chief.

The events were seen as a blow to Arafat's prestige but did not immediately endanger his regime, set up in 1994 under interim peace accords with Israel. One of the measures Arafat was forced to take may instead work in his favour. Trying to save his Cabinet from falling in a vote of no confidence, Arafat agreed to set elections for January 20, hoping to trade that decision for procedures that would cancel the parliamentary vote on his Cabinet.

In the end, Arafat was left with an election date, but without a Cabinet, accepting the resignations of the 21 ministers just before Parliament was to vote. However, the January date ran counter to the wishes of the United States, which hoped for more time to nurture opponents. US president George Bush has joined Israel in calling on the Palestinians to choose a new leader, but the sooner the elections take place the better Arafat's chances are because, so far, no serious opponents have emerged.

Israeli officials were pleased with the apparent weakening of Arafat's position. Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon claims Arafat is responsible for two years of violence and has attempted to exclude him from peace moves. Chief of Israeli military intelligence Maj Gen Aharon Zeevi-Farkash said yesterday's events were "an earthquake in the Palestinian Authority" that would eventually lead to the replacement of Arafat.

Defence minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said: "Until now, we had been accustomed to a reality in which, without Arafat, nothing could happen." Speaking at an academic conference in Herzliya, outside Tel Aviv, he added: "It could be that we're at the beginning of some kind of change."

Palestinians have bristled at Israeli and American attempts to sideline Arafat, noting that he was elected leader in 1996.