30/04/2004 The Palestinian leadership should start overdue reforms to counter its sense of powerlessness in the face of what it sees as an Israeli land grab, former Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas said on Friday. With U.S.-backed peacemaking stymied by persistent violence, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon plans to pull settlers out of Gaza while keeping many more in the West Bank, stripping Palestinians of land they want for a viable state.
Washington’s April 14 endorsement of Sharon’s disengagement plan, citing a Palestinian failure to rein in terrorism against Israelis, outraged the Palestinian Authority but its protests have faded into seeming paralysis. Abbas, who resigned in September after his reform agenda championed by Washington was blocked by President Yasser Arafat, said in an interview that the Palestinian Authority could take on Sharon and regain relevance in U.S. eyes by tackling reforms. „The Authority lives in a state of chaos. One can see the presence of the (Israeli) occupation and the absence of the Authority,” Abbas said of Palestinian governance, laid low by corruption, disorganization and Israeli raids against militants. Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, called on the crumbling Authority to „unite the many security organs, control the armed and non-armed factions, make (democratic) reforms and then go to the Arabs and the world for backing. „Only then will the world support us. But it (the Authority) is not there now. Where is it? I see no steps on the ground,” said Abbas who has stayed largely out of sight since his resignation. „Israel and America will continue to have the upper hand if we don’t work to activate the Palestinian Authority and prove we are partners, carrying out our duties, despite the occupation.” But some Palestinian officials and analysts say reforms, which would entail free elections, would be hard to carry out unless Israel first withdrew forces that encircle Palestinian cities and raid them at will, breeding anarchy. Some reforms of the Authority’s finances have been made but not an overhaul of the multiple and murky security services, which Israel says have been involved in militant attacks. Ahmed Qureia, who succeeded Abbas as premier, has not challenged the long-dominant Arafat and Palestinians increasingly accuse him of inin office. Abbas said U.S. President George Bush’s promise to Sharon that Israel would not have to yield the entire West Bank under any peace deal or admit Palestinian refugees from wars since 1948 was „scandalous” and no solution to the conflict. „This is a deal between America and Israel that is totally rejected by the Palestinian leadership and people. America is no longer a mediator…” he said. Sharon’s moves have eclipsed Bush’s „road map” peace plan which promised Palestinians a viable state in the West Bank and Gaza in 2005 if they disarmed militants and carried out reforms. Abbas was named the first Palestinian premier by Arafat under U.S. pressure in April 2003 and raised international hope for Palestinian reform and a revival in peacemaking.
