- JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Palestinian
President Yasser Arafat won temporary reprieve from U.S.-backed reforms
demanded by his parliament and took the offensive on Wednesday against
a new U.S. law seen as backing Israel's claim to Jerusalem.
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- "This decision is a catastrophe that Muslims and
Christians should not let pass in silence," Arafat said about the
law that took effect on Monday and requires the U.S. government to list
Jerusalem as the Israeli capital in official documents.
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- "I am asking the American administration and the
American president to stop this," Arafat said in his compound in the
West Bank city of Ramallah, scene of a 10-day Israeli siege that ended
on Sunday under pressure from the United States.
-
- The new legislation drew sharp condemnation from the
Arab League and key U.S. ally Saudi Arabia at a time when Washington faces
an uphill struggle to convince Arab states to back possible U.S. military
action against Iraq.
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- Palestinians want East Jerusalem, captured by Israel
in the 1967 Middle East war, as capital of a future state in the West Bank
and Gaza. Israel regards all of Jerusalem as its capital, a claim not recognized
internationally.
-
- Arafat on Tuesday won the backing of his influential
Fatah faction for a three-week delay in appointing an interim cabinet and
support for his opposition to the idea of naming a prime minister to assume
some of his powers.
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- Arafat, whose 21-member cabinet quit in September to
avoid a showdown with lawmakers when it appeared he would lose a vote of
confidence in the reform-minded Palestinian Legislative Council, was to
have appointed new ministers by the end of last month.
-
- The United States, the main Middle East peace broker,
has demanded the Palestinians choose new leaders "not compromised
by terror" before talks on statehood can resume.
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- PALESTINIAN ELECTIONS SET FOR JANUARY
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- Arafat, who has denied Israeli accusations he has helped
orchestrate anti-Israeli violence in the two-year-old Palestinian uprising
for independence, has scheduled presidential and parliamentary elections
for January 20.
-
- Fatah officials said the faction, which traditionally
backs Arafat, was against an immediate appointment of a prime minister
because it would play into Israeli attempts to weaken him.
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- "This idea has been canceled from our dictionary.
This is not the right time," Fatah member Sakher Habash told Reuters.
-
- Palestinian fury over the U.S. law identifying Jerusalem
as Israel's capital was mirrored across the Arab world, which accuses Washington
of pro-Israel bias and of giving Prime Minister Ariel Sharon a free hand
to hit Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
-
- "This leads to destroying the efforts made to return
the Arab-Israeli conflict to the proper political track and maintains the
occupation, the resistance, the tension and the violence," Arab League
Secretary-General Amr Moussa said.
-
- Saudi Arabia voiced concern it would embolden Israel
to toughen its policies against Palestinians.
-
- While the Arab world seethed, Israeli Foreign Minister
Shimon Peres said Israel must not hamper a U.S. drive against Iraq. "We
must give priority to the United States to carry out its policy,"
he told Israel Radio.
-
- His comments strengthened the view that Israel might
have to temper its military moves against the Palestinian uprising while
Washington pursues plans to oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
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- PRO-IRAQ LEADER ARRESTED
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- On Wednesday, Israeli police detonated safely a bomb
found in a bag at a petrol station in the northern town of Afula, believed
to have been planted by Palestinian militants.
-
- Palestinian sources said Israeli troops demolished the
home of a family in the West Bank village of Tammoun whose sons were believed
to have links to the militant group, Islamic Jihad.
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- In a move against a pro-Iraqi faction in the West Bank,
Israeli undercover forces in Ramallah detained Rakad Salem, a local leader
of the Baghdad-based Arab Liberation Front.
-
- Israeli security sources said Salem was responsible for
distributing money sent from Iraq for Palestinians wounded or killed in
the uprising.
-
- The group's support includes allocations of up to $25,000
to the families of Palestinian suicide bombers, payments which Israel says
helps encourage more youths to join the ranks of the bombers who have killed
scores of Israelis.
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- At least 1,575 Palestinians and 602 Israelis have been
killed since the Palestinian revolt erupted in September 2000 after peace
talks froze.
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