MIDDLE EAST: Mr Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian Authority president, emerged triumphant yesterday from a two-month internal political crisis, with the appointment of a new government that leaves him in overall charge of security forces and any negotiations with Israel.
A statement by Mr Ahmed Korei, the prime minister, that he is ready to present a 24-member cabinet to parliament on Wednesday ended weeks of political stalemate in the PA that froze progress on the US-backed "road map".
However, the deal leaves Mr Arafat with his supreme powers intact and raises a potential barrier to renewing the peace plan, given the US and Israeli refusal to deal with a government controlled by the PA president.
The political crisis erupted on September 6th, when Mahmoud Abbas quit as prime minister after losing his own power struggle with Mr Arafat. Mr Korei later took the helm of an eight-member cabinet whose term expired last week.
As part of the deal he announced yesterday, Mr Korei abandoned his plan to appoint Nasser Yousef, a veteran PA military officer, as interior minister.
The new interior ministry post will instead be filled by Hakam Balawi, an Arafat loyalist.
Mr Balawi will have only administrative powers over a number of security forces. Overall control will be wielded by a national security council, headed by Mr Arafat.
The US and Israel have demanded that the security forces, freed from Mr Arafat's control, should be used to suppress militant groups engaged in bombings and other attacks against Israeli targets.
Palestinian officials said Mr Arafat would retain a final say on Mr Korei's negotiating position in any talks with Israeli officials on reviving the peace process.
Qadura Fares, a Fatah politician who is likely to be appointed to the new cabinet, said US and Israeli pressure to marginalise Mr Arafat had played into his hands by generating popular support for him.
"Israel has rejected Arafat but it has its own problems and there may be a change in the Israeli position," Mr Fares said.
Meanwhile, the Israeli government yesterday narrowly approved a prisoner swap with Lebanon's Hezbullah group. Ministers agreed to exchange several hundred Palestinian prisoners and some Lebanese detainees in exchange for the return of a kidnapped Israeli and the bodies of Israeli soldiers.