ramallah, west bank | The Palestinian Authority took cues from the streets of Egypt by firing its cabinet and announcing that elections would be held by September.
The actions appeared to be an act of desperation by an embattled government that has been weakened by the standstill in peace efforts with Israel, its rivalry with Hamas and the loss of a key Arab ally. Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak had served as an important mediator between Israel and the Palestinians, and rallied Arab support for the Palestinian Authority when needed.
Hamas immediately ruled out participation in the called-for election, saying it was meant to divert attention from the scandal caused by the leak of secret documents uncovered by the al Jazeera satellite channel last month. In a sign of the political damage caused by the leaks, chief Palestinian peace negotiator Saeb Erekat announced his resignation Feb. 12.
Erekat, a key player in negotiations with Israel since the 1991 Madrid Peace Conference, has widely been vilified since al Jazeera cited hundreds of internal documents alleging that Palestinian negotiators secretly offered far-reaching concessions to Israel.
Meanwhile, Palest-inian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas either fired his cabinet Feb. 14, or accepted its collective resignation that day, as some media outlets reported. Eight of the 24 cabinet slots were vacant, anyway, and P.A. Prime Minister Salam Fayad reportedly had been contemplating making a change for awhile, the Washington Post reported.
The move was seen as either a nod to the Mideast’s movement toward democracy, or as a preemptive strike against public discontent. Despite economic growth and new investment in the West Bank, some Palestinians have been unhappy with Abbas, with steps he has taken to curtail criticism against him or with the lack of progress in the peace process — or all three.
Fayad now has six weeks to name a new cabinet. Although Fayad is a political independent, he is expected to replace a cabinet currently dominated by technocrats with supporters of Abbas’ Fatah party in preparation for the elections, an aide said.
September is shaping up to be an important month for the Palestinians. They have signaled that they will ask the U.N. Security Council to formally recognize an independent Palestine at that time.
Israeli officials have dismissed the Palestinian tactics, saying unilateral recognitions will not change the situation on the ground, and that there is no replacement for direct negotiations.
However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government appears unlikely to make any bold offers while the Egyptian situation remains fluid.
Meanwhile, Abbas is still feeling the aftershocks from al Jazeera’s reports on “The Palestine Papers.” The documents reportedly showed that in 2008 Abbas agreed to major concessions to Israel by dropping claims to parts of east Jerusalem, the hoped-for Palestinian capital, and acknowledging that most Palestinian refugees would never return to the lost properties in what is now Israel.
Erekat tendered his resignation as Palestinian negotiator because the documents were leaked by someone from his office.
Abbas is in no rush to replace Erekat since no peace talks are expected to take place while Egypt is undergoing a change in government.
AP writer Diaa Hadid in Jerusalem contributed to this report.