Palestinians set elections for January

Arafat will run for re-election despite Bush call for change, says aide

The Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat will run for re-election in January, a senior aide said today, despite the call by President George 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 called it premature.

Hours earlier, the Palestinians announced presidential and parliamentary elections 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 "not compromised by terror."

Asked if Arafat would run again, Shaath told The Associated Press: "Yes, absolutely." He said Arafat had told him directly. Shaath also was quoted to this effect by Israel Radio. Speaking by telephone from Egypt, Shaath also said he expected other candidates to come forward once details of the election process were worked out.

But Abed Rabbo said he could not confirm Arafat would run. "This is absurd, absurd – talking about swimming before you have a pool or water," he angrily said. "I never heard this from the President."

He added that "before you can discuss candidates you have to end the (Israeli) occupation so you can have a campaign" – a repetition of previous Palestinian statements that elections cannot be held while Israel controlled West Bank cities.

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.

Hebron was the latest Israeli target. For the second straight day Wednesday, heavy machine–gun fire pounded the fortress–like government compound from which Palestinian police and gunmen wanted by Israel returned fire. A bulldozer began knocking down walls. Israeli military officials said 150 Palestinians inside had surrendered, including 20 fugitives.

After 21 months of the Palestinian uprising, more than 1,700 Palestinians and 500 Israelis have been killed, the Palestinian economy is in shambles, and the Arafat government has largely ceased to function following repeated Israeli strikes in response to terror attacks.

On Monday, Bush called on Palestinians to elect a leadership other than that of Arafat, and called for democratic and institutional reforms as well as elections as conditions for an eventual provisional Palestinian state.

Senior Palestinian official Saeb Erekat, who announced the upcoming elections, also said the first independent Palestinian municipal elections would be held in March and that the Palestinian finance, judicial and security branches would undergo drastic improvements. "Competent judges," he said, would be appointed by the end of September.

"Many of you may think, 'Are we submitting this or saying this in response to President Bush's speech?' We are saying this in response to Palestinian needs... We have been working on this reform for months," Erekat said.

Palestinian Parliament Secretary Ahmed Abdel Rahman said the presidential and parliamentary elections likely would be Jan. 10 or 11.

Raanan Gissin, spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, said in response that Israel wants 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," he said.

The need for elections and reforms had been raised recently by Palestinian officials, and some moves have been made already.

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 long have pointed out. Noted, for example, were the need for "competent" judges and to "renounce fanaticism" in the Palestinian education system – implying acceptance of those criticisms.

Palestinians said they intended to restructure and modernize the Interior Ministry, bringing the police and civil defense under its control and making it more active in enforcing court rulings. A Palestinian Authority document said the ministry would deal with the "negative phenomena arising from lack of discipline within the security services."

Judicial reforms also have been long–awaited.

Shawki Issa, a leading Palestinian human rights lawyer, said many judges aren't qualified and that problems were compounded by Israeli closures and restrictions that prevented judges and lawyers from getting to court sessions.

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 in a single account, and a Palestinian Investment Fund would be established to manage all investment and commercial operations and would be subject to "the most stringent standards of disclosure and auditing."