Abu Mazen's proposed government met up with some major objections from Yasser Arafat, and at least one of these is holding it up even now.
For one thing, Arafat objected to the low placement of his cronies Saeb Erekat and Yasser Abed Rabbo, and in fact they have since been given more senior positions. Abed Rabbo, considered among the tougher PA negotiators, will be responsible for negotiations with Israel. At a commemoration five years ago of what the PA calls The Catastrophe - Israel's independence in 1948 - Abed Rabbo acknowledged that he saw the Arabs of Israel and of the PA as "one people:"
"We meet today as the representatives of one people, which the conspiracy had failed to uproot from its homeland soil; [this people] is planted today, with its three millions, in its homeland soil, and three other millions or more await their return to the homeland. This meeting today demonstrates that we are one people, from the Galilee, the Triangle District, and the Negev [all inside pre-1967 Israel] up to the Gaza Strip… up to the core of our homeland and our people - Holy Jerusalem."
The posting of Arafat-detractor Muhammad Dahlan, however, is still in question. Abu Mazen wished to grant him almost all the authorities of an Interior Minister, but Arafat has vetoed it. Itim News Agency reports that some PA sources say that Arafat, fearing that Abu Mazen is trying to finish him off politically, will still try to prevent the confirmation of the new government in the PA's legislative council.
For one thing, Arafat objected to the low placement of his cronies Saeb Erekat and Yasser Abed Rabbo, and in fact they have since been given more senior positions. Abed Rabbo, considered among the tougher PA negotiators, will be responsible for negotiations with Israel. At a commemoration five years ago of what the PA calls The Catastrophe - Israel's independence in 1948 - Abed Rabbo acknowledged that he saw the Arabs of Israel and of the PA as "one people:"
"We meet today as the representatives of one people, which the conspiracy had failed to uproot from its homeland soil; [this people] is planted today, with its three millions, in its homeland soil, and three other millions or more await their return to the homeland. This meeting today demonstrates that we are one people, from the Galilee, the Triangle District, and the Negev [all inside pre-1967 Israel] up to the Gaza Strip… up to the core of our homeland and our people - Holy Jerusalem."
The posting of Arafat-detractor Muhammad Dahlan, however, is still in question. Abu Mazen wished to grant him almost all the authorities of an Interior Minister, but Arafat has vetoed it. Itim News Agency reports that some PA sources say that Arafat, fearing that Abu Mazen is trying to finish him off politically, will still try to prevent the confirmation of the new government in the PA's legislative council.