Donna
30-10-02, 20:56
PA Interior Minister: If occupation retreats, Israel will have security
By Reuters
The new Palestinian interior minister said on Wednesday he could reform security services quickly but Israel would have to help by withdrawing forces from West Bank cities.
Hani al-Hassan was one of five new faces in a Palestinian cabinet formed by Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat and ratified by the Palestinian legislature on Tuesday. The cabinet will serve until presidential and parliamentary voting set for January 20, 2003.
"We will strongly act to rebuild the security services," Hassan told reporters in the West Bank city of Ramallah. "We have a speedy program and everybody will notice the change," he said, but did not give details.
But Hassan, who replaced Abdel-Razzak al-Yahya, a favourite of Washington for his apparent reform zeal, said reform would be hindered if Israeli reoccupation of Palestinian cities went on.
Israeli tanks and troops swept into West Bank cities in June after a spate of suicide attacks by Palestinian militants spearheading a two-year-old uprising against occupation.
"Security (for Israel) and occupation cannot co-exist. If the occupation retreats, there will be security," Hassan said.
Washington unimpressed by cabinet changes
The United States declared itself "underwhelmed" by Arafat's cabinet reshuffle, saying it did little to advance democratic reforms seen as crucial to restarting talks with Israel on a Palestinian state, which deadlocked in mid-2000.
Arafat's previous cabinet quit last month after sensing it would lose a confidence vote in parliament, which has criticized his government over what many see as a slow pace of reform and alleged corruption by some of the ministers.
Hassan said Israel was ultimately to blame for the killings of three Israelis by a Palestinian militant who infiltrated the Jewish settlement of Hermesh in the West Bank on Tuesday.
"Israel is responsible. We in the West Bank and Gaza Strip are in a state of self-defence and whoever inflects aggression on us, Palestinians have the right to resist him," he said.
His stance differed from that of his predecessor, Yahya, who urged Palestinians to scrap all forms of violence, the first such public appeal by a senior Palestinian official.
Hassan spoke shortly after the Palestinian cabinet held its first meeting in Arafat's headquarters, battered by several Israeli army sieges following spates of suicide bombings.
Atop the agenda was streamlining the murky security services, which Israel says have failed to stop and sometimes even abetted suicide bombings and shooting attacks on Israeli civilians in the uprising.
"(Arafat) reiterates that the Palestinian Authority should continue its efforts to stop any actions that target (Israeli) civilians," the cabinet said in a statement.
By Reuters
The new Palestinian interior minister said on Wednesday he could reform security services quickly but Israel would have to help by withdrawing forces from West Bank cities.
Hani al-Hassan was one of five new faces in a Palestinian cabinet formed by Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat and ratified by the Palestinian legislature on Tuesday. The cabinet will serve until presidential and parliamentary voting set for January 20, 2003.
"We will strongly act to rebuild the security services," Hassan told reporters in the West Bank city of Ramallah. "We have a speedy program and everybody will notice the change," he said, but did not give details.
But Hassan, who replaced Abdel-Razzak al-Yahya, a favourite of Washington for his apparent reform zeal, said reform would be hindered if Israeli reoccupation of Palestinian cities went on.
Israeli tanks and troops swept into West Bank cities in June after a spate of suicide attacks by Palestinian militants spearheading a two-year-old uprising against occupation.
"Security (for Israel) and occupation cannot co-exist. If the occupation retreats, there will be security," Hassan said.
Washington unimpressed by cabinet changes
The United States declared itself "underwhelmed" by Arafat's cabinet reshuffle, saying it did little to advance democratic reforms seen as crucial to restarting talks with Israel on a Palestinian state, which deadlocked in mid-2000.
Arafat's previous cabinet quit last month after sensing it would lose a confidence vote in parliament, which has criticized his government over what many see as a slow pace of reform and alleged corruption by some of the ministers.
Hassan said Israel was ultimately to blame for the killings of three Israelis by a Palestinian militant who infiltrated the Jewish settlement of Hermesh in the West Bank on Tuesday.
"Israel is responsible. We in the West Bank and Gaza Strip are in a state of self-defence and whoever inflects aggression on us, Palestinians have the right to resist him," he said.
His stance differed from that of his predecessor, Yahya, who urged Palestinians to scrap all forms of violence, the first such public appeal by a senior Palestinian official.
Hassan spoke shortly after the Palestinian cabinet held its first meeting in Arafat's headquarters, battered by several Israeli army sieges following spates of suicide bombings.
Atop the agenda was streamlining the murky security services, which Israel says have failed to stop and sometimes even abetted suicide bombings and shooting attacks on Israeli civilians in the uprising.
"(Arafat) reiterates that the Palestinian Authority should continue its efforts to stop any actions that target (Israeli) civilians," the cabinet said in a statement.