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| Middle East | |
| Yasser Declares State Of Emergency | |
| 2003-10-17 | |
| In an unexpected development, President Yasser Arafat issued a presidential decree in which he announced a state of emergency in the Palestinian territories, and the formation of an emergency government headed by Ahmad Qurei, in a step that came under fire by the Palestinian factions, which fear that the government might be formed to act against the resistance. Stand by for Paleo Civil War It is worthy noting that the presidential decree was issued only a few hours after Qurei announced before the press that Arafat had given his approval to the reduced 12-member government, and that he was willing to present it to the Legislative Council for ratification next Wednesday. What happened during these few hours? Well-informed Palestinian sources said that there are four reasons accounting for this surprising development: First: the deterioration of the Palestinian President’s health, which is evidenced in the fact that this is the first time that he accepts to hand over the security prerogatives to the Minister of Interior, General Nasser Yousef.There is talk that the Palestinian Authority has been given a two-month period to put an end to the opposition’s ’rebellion’ namely that of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, against the Authority’s decisions and what is called the ’weapons chaos,’ knowing that the legal term of an emergency government is 30 renewable days. Since when did a little thing like the law bother them? The emergency government is formed of eight ministers headed by Qurei; they are all members of Fatah. The ministers are set to swear constitutional oath before the President today, given that this government doesn’t need the Parliament’s vote of confidence. The former Palestinian Minister of Justice Abdulkarim Abu Saleh said the emergency government is a "security government," as he pointed out that the constitution gives it the right to impose necessary restrictions on basic rights and freedoms, including detentions. And this is different from the regular PA government?
"It’s your fault if the Israelis respond to our attacks" Al-Hayat was informed that Legislative Council members (85 members) are not happy with the unexpected presidential decree. Deputies said that this government laying the grounds for "national unity and its consolidation" was improbable, and instead, they expect that it will put an end to the Palestinian unity that has been achieved on the ground, throughout the Intifada. Well-informed sources said it was most probable that Qurei will take measures to put an end to the security chaos, to the production of Qassam missiles, close all tunnels, gather weapons and put an end to the attacks inside Israel. At which time, Hell will have well and truely frozen over. However, the assistant director at Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Gedeon Meier, told AFP: "We have had enough of nice talk. The new Palestinian government should take action instead of giving speeches." He added that the Palestinian Authority knows what it has to do, which he said, was to "dismantle the terrorist organizations as stipulated in the Roadmap." SEE: Hell, frozen. | |
| Posted by:Steve |
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| Posted by: eLarson 2003-10-17 5:38:00 PM |
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| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2003-10-17 5:10:23 PM |
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| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2003-10-17 3:25:47 PM |
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| Posted by: Frank G 2003-10-17 3:11:46 PM |