Arafat's cabinet resigns

RAMALLAH, West Bank -- The Palestinian Cabinet resigned Wednesday after Yasser Arafat lost a showdown with parliament -- the most serious challenge to the Palestinian leader since he returned from exile in 1994.\nEarlier in the day, Arafat had set Jan. 20 as a date for presidential and parliamentary elections in an attempt to defuse the confrontation with disgruntled legislators who accused him of making only halfhearted efforts to reform his administration.\nThe maneuver failed, and legislators insisted on moving forward with a no-confidence vote on the 21-member Cabinet.\n"There is a crisis of confidence," said lawmaker Salah Taameri, a veteran member of Arafat's Fatah movement. "Believe us when we say it's serious."\nArafat now has two weeks to present parliament with a new Cabinet list.\nThe day began with Arafat summoning Fatah legislators, who dominate the 88-seat parliament, to his office to try to persuade them to back the Cabinet.\nHe reshuffled portfolios in June, dismissing some ministers and naming five new ones as part of what he said would be major internal reforms. However, legislators complained the changes were largely cosmetic, and that many ministers considered incompetent or tainted by suspicion of corruption had been allowed to stay on.\nIn Wednesday's meeting, many of the Fatah legislators told Arafat they would not back the Cabinet.\nAfterward, hoping to avoid a confidence vote on the whole government, Arafat issued a decree setting Jan. 20 as the date for presidential and parliamentary elections -- a move at variance with U.S. wishes for a delay that might help in sidelining the Palestinian leader.\nPalestinian officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said setting an election date was part of a compromise floated at the Fatah meeting. Under the deal, which failed, Arafat would set a date for elections, rendering the current Cabinet a temporary one. In that case, the Fatah legislators said, they would be willing to hold a vote only on the five new ministers appointed in June, who have reputations as honest and diligent administrators and enjoy wide support.\nArafat, apparently fearing defeat, accepted the deal, the officials said.\nBut parliament's legal committee decided later that the entire Cabinet must be presented for approval. Legislators apparently did not believe Arafat was sincere in setting an election date and feared he might revoke the decree later.\nBy mid-afternoon Wednesday, 32 of 35 legislators had addressed parliament, saying they would vote no-confidence in the government. In all, 65 lawmakers attended, either in Ramallah or by video conference from Gaza.\nJust before the vote was to begin, Cabinet ministers submitted their resignations to Arafat, who accepted them.\nThe setting of an election date came as something of a surprise. The United States had been seeking a delay to gain time to find ways of diminishing Arafat's position. President Bush has urged the Palestinians to elect a new leadership.\nOne floated proposal calls for appointment of a prime minister who would run day-to-day affairs, while Arafat would be turned into a figurehead. While the Palestinian leader earlier appeared to be considering the idea, in recent days he has blocked all efforts to bring it about.\nA U.S. official said Wednesday that the United States supported the Palestinians' right to choose their own leader, but suggested the elections were coming too soon. "We think the ground has to be prepared before that (elections)," said Paul Patin, spokesman at the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv.\nIt is widely assumed that the earlier the elections are held, the greater Arafat's chances of winning re-election.\nWhile many Palestinians find fault with Arafat, they say they resent U.S. efforts to try to push him aside and will not accept meddling in their affairs.\nReuven Rivlin, an Israeli Cabinet minister, said the Palestinians must know that if they re-elect Arafat, "we will continue to treat them as a people led by a terrorist." Rivlin was appointed Tuesday to the Israeli team that has been meeting with Palestinian Cabinet ministers.\nNo serious contender against Arafat has emerged.\nArafat has said in the past that the elections would be held in January, but until Wednesday refused to set a specific date.\nIn other developments Wednesday, Israeli troops, backed by about 60 armored vehicles, raided a town in the Gaza Strip, searching mosques and homes for suspected Islamic militants and exchanging fire with Palestinian gunmen.\nDespite extensive gun battles, there were no reports of injuries, and Israeli forces withdrew from Beit Hanoun, a town of about 30,000 Palestinians in the northern Gaza Strip, after six hours. Islamic militants said they detonated explosives near a tank, and reporters saw a deep crater on the outskirts of Beit Hanoun.\nThe army said four Palestinians wanted for questioning were arrested, and that there were no casualties among the soldiers.\nAlso Wednesday, Israel's Security Cabinet decided that Rachel's Tomb -- a disputed holy site in the West Bank town of Bethlehem -- would remain under its control to ensure access to it from nearby Jerusalem. The move could require the seizure of some Palestinian territory.\nRaanan Gissin, spokesman for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, said the tomb -- where Jews believe the biblical matriarch Rachel, wife of Jacob and mother of Joseph, is buried -- would remain under Israeli control under an emerging plan to ring Jerusalem with walls, fences and roadblocks.