Senior Palestinian and Israeli leaders held separate meetings Sunday to plan a path forward in the absence of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who was being examined in a French hospital for an unknown ailment.
Palestinian officials have been convening a series of top meetings in recent days to show that their institutions continue to function in Arafat’s absence, while Israeli officials scrambled to plan for the possibility that the West Bank and Gaza could erupt into chaos if Arafat dies.
Senior intelligence officials and representatives from the foreign and defense ministries were briefing the Israeli Cabinet on Sunday on Arafat’s health and the possible scenarios if he becomes incapacitated or dies.
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said Israel’s army would “demonstrate restraint” in military operations in the West Bank and Gaza until the Palestinian leadership situation became clear.
“These are days of waiting, and during such days you act perhaps with a bit more caution,” Shalom told Army Radio before the weekly Cabinet meeting.
Sharon: Arafat won't be buried in Jerusalem
Israeli officials said they were working under the assumption that Arafat would not return to the Palestinian political arena.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Sunday that Arafat would not be permitted to be buried in Jerusalem if he dies.
The Palestinian leader has said he wants to be buried at the Jerusalem holy site known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Haram as-Sharif, or Noble Sanctuary.
But Sharon said that would not be allowed. “As long as I am prime minister, Arafat won’t be buried in Jerusalem,” he told a Cabinet meeting Sunday, according to participants.
Israel has marked a possible burial site for Arafat in the Jerusalem suburb of Abu Dis, in the West Bank, security officials said.
Though hard-line ministers at the meeting asked Sharon to refuse to allow Arafat back into the West Bank, the premier said he was sticking by the commitment to allow Arafat to return from France, where he was undergoing medical treatment.
A gaping leadership hole
Arafat’s illness forced the longtime Palestinian leader to leave his Ramallah compound for the first time in nearly three years, leaving a gaping leadership hole in his wake. Arafat has been the Palestinian leader since 1969 and has steadfastly refused to appoint a successor, preferring one-man rule.
In an effort to project unity and continuity in the Palestinian Authority, top leaders have held a series of meetings in recent days.
Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia, whose efforts to force Arafat to relinquish some power have largely failed, chaired a session Sunday of the Palestinian National Security Council. The body, headed by Arafat, commands the most important of the myriad Palestinian security forces.
In a symbolic gesture, Qureia refused to sit at the head of the table, Arafat’s place.
Former Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, who resigned last year over frustration with Arafat, made the same symbolic gesture Saturday when he presided over a meeting of the PLO executive committee.
The Palestinian Legislative Council was also meeting Sunday and the PLO executive committee was to meet again Sunday night.
“The meaning of these intensive meetings is a message to the Palestinian people. There is no vacuum and things will go on as if Arafat is here,” said Palestinian Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat.
Militant killed in clash with Israeli troops
Meanwhile, an Islamic Jihad militant was killed Sunday in a firefight with Israeli troops in the West Bank town of Jenin, where the army has been operating since last week, the army and Islamic Jihad said.
In the Gaza Strip, a Jewish settler was moderately injured when Palestinian militants fired seven mortar shells at Jewish settlements, the army and settlers said. The militants have increased mortar and rocket attacks recently to make Israel’s planned Gaza withdrawal appear to be a retreat.
Despite the spate of official meetings, it was clear that if Palestinians are now facing the post-Arafat era, there is no one with his stature ready to step in and rule.
Abbas and Qureia, both in their late 60s and in questionable health themselves, could serve in the interim, but neither has the political power base or charisma to assert control over Arafat’s crumbling empire.
A new leader would have to unite all the squabbling factions while also asserting authority over powerful Islamic groups like Hamas. No such figure is on the horizon.
Younger leaders Mohammed Dahlan in Gaza and Jibril Rajoub in the West Bank, both former security commanders, are bitter personal enemies. Another possible leader, Marwan Barghouti, West Bank leader of Arafat’s Fatah movement, is serving five consecutive life terms in an Israeli prison.