Arafat Will Run For Re-Election
Palestinians to go to polls in mid-January

June 26, 2002
By JASON KEYSER, Associated Press Writer

JERICHO, West Bank (AP) - Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat will run for re-election in January, a senior aide said Wednesday, despite a call by President Bush for a new Palestinian leadership.

It had been widely expected that Arafat would run, but the statement by Palestinian Planning Minister Nabil Shaath was immediately disputed by another senior official, Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo, who said it was premature to announce candidacies before details were worked out and as long as Israeli troops occupied most of the Palestinian cities in the West Bank.

"This is absurd, absurd — talking about swimming before you have a pool or water," Abed Rabbo said. "I never heard this from the president."

Hours earlier, the Palestinians announced that presidential and parliamentary elections would be held in mid-January and unveiled plans to overhaul Palestinian financial and security institutions. The announcements came two days after Bush demanded reforms and called for a new Palestinian leadership that was "not compromised by terror." The changes, Bush said, were necessary before a Palestinian state could be established.

Asked whether Arafat would run again, Shaath said: "Yes, absolutely." He said Arafat had told him directly.

Shaath, speaking by telephone from Egypt, said he expected other candidates to come forward once details of the election process were worked out. To date, the only challenger to the longtime Palestinian leader to emerge is political scientist Abdel Sattar Qassem, 53, who told The Associated Press Wednesday that he expects to defeat Arafat.

"I'll focus on the internal issues, the corruption and mismanagement and looting public money, cronyism," he said. But he rejected Bush's call for a leadership change. "Bush doesn't have the right to tell our people what to do," he said. Qassem does not recognize Israel and backs bombing and shooting attacks against Israeli civilians.

In Washington, a senior U.S. official said Bush had decided to call for a leadership change after received intelligence showing Arafat approved a payment to a militant group which has carried out suicide bombings.

Senior Palestinian official Saeb Erekat, who announced the coming elections, said the first Palestinian municipal elections would be held in March and that the Palestinian finance, judicial and security branches would undergo drastic improvements.

"President Arafat officially declares today that the election of the president of the Palestinian Authority and the election of the Palestinian legislative council will be held in January 2003," Erekat said. Palestinian Parliament Secretary Ahmed Abdel Rahman said the elections likely would be on Jan. 10 or 11.

Raanan Gissin, spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, said Israel wanted to see concrete evidence of a clampdown on terror attacks before judging the effectiveness of Palestinian reforms. "This is how it will be tested — with action. In the meantime, all we have is words," Gissin said.

Israeli forces, meanwhile, maintained their grip on West Bank towns, confining at least 700,000 Palestinians to their homes as arrests and searches were being carried out. The army has moved into seven of the eight major West Bank towns and cities since back-to-back suicide bombings killed 26 Israelis last week in Jerusalem.

For the second straight day in Hebron, heavy machine-gun fire pounded a government compound where Palestinian police and gunmen wanted by Israel exchanged fire with troops.

The army brought the fathers of four wanted men inside the compound to talk to their sons over loudspeakers, but they could not be heard over the shelling.

Israeli military officials said that about 200 Palestinians inside the compound have surrendered since the army surrounded it early Tuesday and that soldiers had found 100 explosive devices inside. Some 40 Palestinians in Hebron and surrounding villages were arrested.

Over 21 months of fighting, more than 1,700 Palestinians and 500 Israelis have been killed, the Palestinian economy is in shambles, and Arafat's government has largely ceased to function.

On Monday, Bush called on the Palestinians to elect a new leadership, and called for democratic and institutional reforms as conditions for an eventual provisional Palestinian state.

Erekat said Wednesday's announcement came as a result of Palestinian desires and not American pressure. "We have been working on this reform for months," he said.

Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister, Saud al-Faisal, was generally supportive of Bush's speech but said it was up to the Palestinian people to choose their leadership and that whoever they elect should be acceptable to the international community.

The need for elections and reforms had been raised recently by Palestinian officials, and some action has already been taken.

In May, after a 5-year delay, Arafat signed a law intended to form the basis of a Palestinian constitution. It ordered separation of powers between executive, legislative and judicial branches and guaranteed political and individual rights to Palestinian civilians. Earlier this month, Arafat shuffled his Cabinet, but the changes were criticized among Palestinians as superficial.

Wednesday's announcement was the first detailed Palestinian leadership acknowledgment of shortcomings others have long pointed out. Noted, for example, were the need for competent judges and to "renounce fanaticism" in the Palestinian education system.

The police and civil defense are to be brought under the control of the Interior Ministry. A Palestinian Authority document said the ministry would deal with the "negative phenomena arising from lack of discipline within the security services."

Corruption allegations have plagued the Palestinian Authority since its inception in 1994, and the outlined reforms attempt to tighten management and improve auditing of public funds.

All Palestinian Authority income, including taxes and foreign aid, would be placed into a single account, and a Palestinian Investment Fund would be established to manage all investment and commercial operations.

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