The Palestinians are catching on. The Syrians seem to be hearing the message.
Putin got the message. The Word is spreading...


washingtonpost.com
Palestinians Signal Break With Arafat Era
Lawmakers Approve Cabinet Heavy on Young Technocrats and Reformers

By Samuel Sockol and John Ward Anderson
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, February 25, 2005; Page A15

RAMALLAH, West Bank, Feb. 24 -- The Palestinian parliament on Thursday approved
a new cabinet composed largely of reformers and technocrats after forcing Prime
Minister Ahmed Qureia to dump an entrenched group of Yasser Arafat loyalists.

With a few exceptions, the 24-member cabinet is made up of men with little
experience in elective office, unlike the old cabinet and alternative lists for
the new one informally floated this week by Qureia, which were drawn mostly from
members of parliament and stalwarts of Arafat's Fatah movement, the dominant
organization in the Palestinian Authority.

Qureia, a member of Fatah who was appointed prime minister by Arafat 15 months
ago, was forced to accept the wholesale shake-up by a newly independent and
assertive Palestinian Legislative Council. Lawmakers, after years of
subservience in which they simply rubber-stamped cabinets stacked with Arafat
cronies, exercised their oversight powers for the first time and forced real
change on the Palestinian Authority's executive branch.

Even members of Fatah, which controls about two-thirds of the legislature's
seats, turned against Qureia and his proposals for a limited cabinet shuffle.
Seemingly liberated by the death of Arafat three months ago, and with an eye
toward parliamentary elections in July, lawmakers across the board demanded a
major housecleaning.

"It was important to raise a voice clearly against anyone who does not want to
change and develop," said Mufid Abed Rabbo, a member of parliament from Fatah's
wing of young reformers. "It was necessary to say no to the old path, and
therefore it was agreed upon to have a cabinet of technocrats."

In forcing the overhaul, lawmakers said they were reacting to public demands to
purge corrupt cabinet ministers, professionalize the government and expedite
reforms, especially the training of security forces and the consolidating of 12
security agencies. Lawmakers said the new cabinet underscored their dedication
to reform in advance of a 25-nation conference in London next week that will
focus on strengthening Palestinian political institutions.

The power struggle over the cabinet played out over the past three days as
Qureia, who as prime minister has strongly defended the political status quo and
initiated few changes, informally floated several lists but never proposed a new
cabinet to parliament because it was clear he did not have the votes. Threatened
with a no-confidence vote that could have cost him his job, Qureia finally
relented and stripped the cabinet of most holdovers from the Arafat era.

The new cabinet, approved 54 to 10 with four abstentions, includes seven
ministers from the old cabinet and 17 newcomers. Eleven of the ministers have
doctorates, and three are engineers.

Maj. Gen. Nasser Yusef was named interior minister, while Mohammed Dahlan,
formerly a senior security official in Gaza, was made civil affairs minister.
Both are strong advocates of reform and were often at odds with Arafat. Salam
Fayyad, a respected former official with the International Monetary Fund,
retained his position as finance minister.

Arafat's nephew, Nasser Kidwa, the Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations,
was named foreign minister, replacing Nabil Shaath, who was made deputy prime
minister and information minister. Negotiations minister Saeb Erekat, one of the
best-known Palestinian spokesmen for more than a decade, lost his cabinet post
but remains the Palestinians' chief negotiator with Israel.

"This is a transitional government," Shaath said after the vote. "The public
wanted to test some younger people, but these younger people will have some of
the older people with them" to provide continuity, he said. "But the majority
are new, so rejuvenation is the name of the game."

Anderson reported from Jerusalem.



John H

On the 'PocoLoco' out of Deale, MD,
on the beautiful Chesapeake Bay!

"Divide each difficulty into as many parts as is feasible and necessary to resolve it."
Rene Descartes