Korei to Retain Post in Deal With Arafat

RAMALLAH, West Bank —  Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ahmed Korei announced Tuesday that he was withdrawing his resignation -- a reversal that officials said came after President Yasser Arafat agreed to cede some governmental authority and crack down on official corruption.

Palestinian officials said the deal reached between the two men before Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting would end the turmoil that had engulfed the Palestinian government for more than a week.

Korei had submitted his resignation on July 17, citing rising lawlessness and frustration about his lack of direct authority over security forces. But Arafat rejected the resignation, throwing the Palestinian government into confusion and raising questions about how he would weather the most serious challenge to his decade-long rule.

During the last week, Korei insisted that he was quitting but said he would remain prime minister in a caretaker role.

“The president refused the resignation, and I will comply,” Korei said Tuesday during a news conference with Arafat at the president’s combat-scarred compound. “We are waiting to see how things will move.”

In a display of unity, the two men kissed each other on the cheek and raised their clasped hands. Looking on were key Cabinet ministers and members of the Palestinian parliament who had pressed Arafat in recent days to yield more power to the prime minister and Cabinet. A delegation of lawmakers met with Arafat for several hours Monday night to make their case for reform.

“Today we witnessed a very significant step in a long way to reform and restoring public order,” said Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat.

Terms of the reforms were not spelled out in detail. Arafat did not refer directly to the resignation standoff during Tuesday’s news conference, and he mentioned the reform drive only obliquely.

He chose instead to list the places where he said Israeli military operations had taken a harsh toll on Palestinians. “Is there a place that is not being hit every day?” he asked.

Cabinet members said Arafat agreed to abide by the so-called Basic Law, which serves as the interim Palestinian constitution and grants the prime minister and president shared governmental powers, including control over the security forces.

Under that law, the prime minister holds sway over domestic security through the interior minister, while the president oversees national security and intelligence.

It remained unclear whether Arafat would make good on his promise of reform or whether his latest moves were aimed mainly at quieting the dissent that has grown considerably louder in recent weeks. Despite the infighting, few consider Arafat’s position as the primary Palestinian leader to be in jeopardy.

Israel issued no immediate comment, and U.S. Secretary of State Colin L. Powell voiced skepticism.

“What we are looking for is action, not statements,” Powell told reporters as he flew to Cairo from Budapest, Hungary.

Earlier, Powell said that what was needed was “real action that transfers power to a prime minister of the Palestinian people, and Palestinian Authority, and consolidation of security services with those consolidated services being under the direction of the prime minister.”

Security reform was among the commitments made by the Palestinians as part of the U.S.-backed diplomatic initiative known as the road map. The United States and Egypt have pressured the Palestinians to make changes.

Under the agreement described by Palestinian officials Tuesday, the prime minister would gain additional authority over the police and other internal security forces, but much of the control over security would remain in Arafat’s hands. Ministers said Arafat and Korei would work as partners.

There were no plans for an immediate reshuffling of the Cabinet, officials said. Some reports had suggested that Korei might be allowed to dismiss Arafat’s handpicked interior minister, Hakam Balawi, who oversees police.

“This is a continuous process of changing and rechanging,” said Arafat’s spokesman, Nabil abu Rudaineh. “We will continue this as long as it takes. There will be new appointments. There will be new changes.”

The spokesman said the government would follow through on its plans to consolidate security forces -- now numbering 40,000 men scattered among a dozen overlapping agencies -- into three branches. Arafat had already promised to do so more than a week ago.

Korei, who took office in October, has from the beginning sought more prerogatives to name and oversee Cabinet ministers. But Arafat continued to exercise broad control, especially over the all-important security forces, the foundation of his power.

Security is also a critical issue in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Korei offered his resignation a day after militants in Gaza briefly abducted two Palestinian police officials -- including the police chief, appointed by Arafat -- and four French nationals.

Violence broke out later over Arafat’s decision to name his cousin, Moussa Arafat, as head of security in the Gaza Strip, laying bare a power struggle within the president’s Fatah movement, the dominant force in Palestinian politics. Younger members have grown increasingly vocal over perceived corruption and cronyism in the Palestinian Authority’s leadership.

Israel is making plans to exit Gaza next year by evacuating 21 Jewish settlements there, which has prompted jockeying among rival Palestinian factions.

Erekat and other officials said Arafat had ordered the Palestinian attorney general to speed the handling of corruption complaints. “We need expeditious results immediately. President Arafat and the prime minister said no one would be immune,” Erekat said.

Ali Jarbawi, a political scientist at Birzeit University outside Ramallah, said it was up to Korei and his ministers to use the new authority they were now said to wield.

“It solves the crisis for the time being, but we have to wait for the implementation. I’m not sure the country is capable of surviving another crisis,” Jarbawi said. “It takes two to tango. It’s now up to the prime minister and the Cabinet to take what’s been given to them and implement it.”

But Arafat has resisted past attempts at reform. There would be skepticism this time, too, acknowledged Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath, “until people see on the ground what has happened.”

In other developments, two Palestinians were killed during a confrontation between militants and Israeli troops in the eastern section of Gaza City. The militant group Hamas said one of the men, Fadi Maghani, 23, belonged to the group. The second, 29-year-old Maher abu Atta, was a bystander, family members said.

An Israeli army spokeswoman said troops started shooting when they spotted armed men preparing to fire an antitank rocket at them.

Meanwhile, Palestinian police said at least one of the six Palestinians killed Sunday in the West Bank city of Tulkarm by Israelis was a civilian, not a militant.