Palestinian leaders have failed once again to resolve a dispute holding up the formation of a new government that has already dragged into overtime.
| Comes as a surprise, doesn't it? |
The central committee of the mainstream Fatah movement met twice on Wednesday to end the impasse over the choice of a new interior minister, but both meetings failed to find a solution, party sources said. A third meeting is to be held on Thursday morning, but one senior Fatah source believes neither side was showing signs of backing down. Palestinian foreign minister-designate Nabil Shaath said the meeting was called in a continuing attempt to decide on the powers of the prime minister, interior minister and national security council, which Arafat chairs. The main sticking point is Ahmad Qurei's choice of General Nasser Yousuf as interior minister with control over security forces. Qurei's predecessor, Mahmoud Abbas, quit in September after a similar dispute with Arafat over security powers.
| So will Qurei's successor, whoever he may be... |
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Palestinian Interior Minister Nasser Yousuf said yesterday that fighters in Gaza have rejected a Palestinian Authority plan to put their weapons in storage during next weekâs parliamentary election as a way to reduce the risk of violence. Interior Minister Yousuf said a proposal had been made for factions in Gaza to collect their own weapons just before the ballot and put them into a storage area to which they would have one key and the Palestinian Authority another. âBut they rejected the proposal,â Yousuf told reporters. Khader Habib, an Islamic Jihad leader, confirmed the proposal was rejected, but denied that the groupâs weapons contributed to Gazaâs âchaos and anarchyâ or threatened security during the elections.