A difficult labour
By
Abdel-Qader Yassin
Minutes after the US-British war on Iraq started, Palestinian President Yasser Arafat gave a mandate to Mahmoud Abbas (aka Abu-Mazen) to form the fourth Palestinian government. A maelstrom of another kind thus began in the Occupied Territories as Abu-Mazen's struggle to form a cabinet threw into high relief the lack of cohesion among political forces that makes Palestinian political life so susceptible to meddling from abroad.
While the Palestinian "popular", "democratic" and "Arab liberation" forces were circumspect about Abbas's appointment, Al-Aqsa Brigades (Fatah's military wing) explicitly stated its opposition to his selection. The Jihad and Hamas groups, too, withheld support for Abu- Mazen.
Meanwhile, the struggle between Abbas and Arafat intensified as Abbas tried to expand his mandate, and Arafat held fast to the power to which he had become accustomed. The conflict was played out in a number of venues when Arafat loyalists obstructed several of Abu- Mazen's appointments, most notably the appointment of former Preventative Security Chief for the Gaza Strip Mohamed Dahlan to the position of minister of interior.
The Palestinian president, though, showed he was a force to be reckoned with when three of his loyalists turned down minor portfolios.
However, just ahead of the 23 April deadline, the speaker of the Palestinian parliament announced that a comprise had been secured but did not release the list of ministers. A most difficult birthing, indeed, for the new cabinet.
* This week's Soapbox speaker is a Cairo- based Palestinian political analyst.
