Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie withdrew his resignation yesterday after Palestinian Presi-dent Yasser Arafat granted him some powers to carry out reforms, easing a paralyzing leadership crisis, officials said.
Qurie's chief of staff said he had won effective control over police and internal security agencies, part of a security apparatus whose chaos and corruption is seen by international mediators as an obstacle to peacemaking with Israel.
Arafat's move, initially disclosed by a pro-reform committee of legis-lators after a meeting with the president, came after an unprecedented explosion of unrest over high-level inaction on demands for anti-corruption reforms.
PHOTO: EPA
But Arafat has not honored similar promises in the past. Yesterday's deal leaves him in charge of national security and intelligence which encompass the bulk of Palestinian security personnel.
"The president rejected my resignation and I will [now] comply," Qurie told reporters after 10 days of turmoil that raised fears of a descent into anarchy in the West Bank and Gaza.
"I hope I will be up to this confidence and cooperate with [Arafat] in carrying out this very difficult responsibility," Qurie said after a Cabinet session from which he and the president emerged smiling, each kissing the other on the cheek.
Arafat would address the Palestinian people soon to provide details of the deal, Qurie added.
"The Cabinet has been given powers to exercise its duties. We are speaking now of decrees and decisions that will be announced very soon," said Hassan Abu Lib-deh, Qurie's chief of staff. "This is a good step. In the next few days and weeks we will see action permitting the government to play its role."
Qurie had wanted to bow out in despair over his inability to pursue reforms, especially to security organs under Arafat's thumb.
"[Arafat] has agreed to speed up the reform drive to end the state of lawlessness in the Palestinian territories," lawmaker Hanan Ashrawi, who has blasted the president's "one-man" rule, said after the committee met with him on Monday evening.
US-led mediators regard Palestinian reforms, along with Israeli restraint in military action against Palestinian militants, as crucial to reviving a peace plan promising Palestinians a state in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza.
A power struggle has been brewing in Gaza in anticipation of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to withdraw settlers and troops from the territory by the end of next year. Arafat's leadership was challenged this month when gunmen linked to his Fatah faction sparked chaos in Gaza by kidnapping a number of Palestinian officials and foreigners to back demands that he overhaul security forces and other institutions.
Qurie wants Arafat to relinquish control, both direct and indirect, over a grab bag of a dozen feuding security services. But Arafat has seemed amenable only to cosmetic changes.
Ashrawi said Arafat would demand the Palestinian attorney general begin legal procedures against any officials involved in corruption. Another legislator said Arafat would give his interior minister powers to fight corruption.
Meanwhile, two Palestinians, at least one of them a Hamas militant, were killed in a clash with Israeli troops on the edge of Gaza City yesterday. The army said its forces fired at militants preparing to launch a mortar or rocket at a nearby Jewish settlement.
Australians were downloading virtual private networks (VPNs) in droves, while one of the world’s largest porn distributors said it was blocking users from its platforms as the country yesterday rolled out sweeping online age restriction. Australia in December became the first country to impose a nationwide ban on teenagers using social media. A separate law now requires artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbot services to keep certain content — including pornography, extreme violence and self-harm and eating disorder material — from minors or face fines of up to A$49.5 million (US$34.6 million). The country also joined Britain, France and dozens of US states requiring
Hungarian authorities temporarily detained seven Ukrainian citizens and seized two armored cars carrying tens of millions of euros in cash across Hungary on suspicion of money laundering, officials said on Friday. The Ukrainians were released on Friday, following their detention on Thursday, but Hungarian officials held onto the cash, prompting Ukraine to accuse Hungary’s Russia-friendly government of illegally seizing the money. “We will not tolerate this state banditism,” Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said. The seven detained Ukrainians were employees of the Ukrainian state-owned Oschadbank, who were traveling in the two armored cars that were carrying the money between Austria and
Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani on Friday after dissolving the Kosovar parliament said a snap election should be held as soon as possible to avoid another prolonged political crisis in the Balkan country at a time of global turmoil. Osmani said it is important for Kosovo to wrap up the upcoming election process and form functional institutions for political stability as the war rages in the Middle East. “Precisely because the geopolitical situation is that complex, it is important to finish this electoral process which is coming up,” she said. “It is very hard now to imagine what will happen next.” Kosovo, which declared
MORE BANS: Australia last year required sites to remove accounts held by under-16s, with a few countries pushing for similar action at an EU level and India considering its own ban Indonesia on Friday said it would ban social media access for children under 16, citing threats from online pornography, cyberbullying, online fraud and Internet addiction. “Accounts belonging to children under 16 on high-risk platforms will start to be deactivated, beginning with YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live and Roblox,” Indonesian Minister of Communications and Digital Meutya Hafid said. “The government is stepping in so that parents no longer have to fight alone against the giants of the algorithm. Implementation will begin on March 28, 2026,” she said. The social media ban would be introduced in stages “until all platforms fulfill their
RSS