Lawmakers angered by the Palestinian leadership's failure to make reforms plan to force a parliamentary no-confidence vote that could bring down the government appointed by Yasser Arafat.
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The lawmakers said on Wednesday they had collected enough signatures on a petition to compel a special session, possibly by early October, on the future of Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Quriea and his cabinet.
Such a move would put increased pressure on Arafat, who in recent months has faced unprecedented unrest in the most serious challenge to his rule since he returned from exile a decade ago.
Rebellious members of the Palestinian president's own ruling Fatah movement said Quriea's cabinet had shown itself to be weak and ineffective and had been undercut by Arafat's failure to follow through on promised anti-corruption and security reforms.
International mediators regard such reforms as critical to paving the way for resuming stalled peace negotiations with Israel after four years of bloodshed.
"The government must be brought down, it has done nothing," lawmaker Ahmad el-Deek told Reuters. "We have given it a chance to make reforms and implement its program, but it has taken absolutely no action."
Deek said 14 legislators from the 83-member Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) had signed the petition so far.
PLC speaker Rawhi Fattouh said only 10 signatures were needed to force a no-confidence vote and if he received a formal motion he would abide by the request. Parliament is due back in session after October 7.
Arafat's Fatah movement, normally loyal to its leader, controls as many as 67 seats in parliament, raising doubts whether dissident members will be able to muster enough support to topple the prime minister he appointed last year.
Growing impatience with Arafat But the challenge from within Arafat's own faction reflected growing impatience among reformist lawmakers demanding that he stop stalling on demands to cede significant powers to Quriea to overhaul security services and root out corruption.
The PLC suspended work for a month starting on Sept. 7 to press Arafat into ratifying a reform package and get a grip on spiraling unrest and lawlessness.
But the veteran Palestinian leader has not budged. "Quriea's powers have been hijacked by the president, so the prime minister must go home," lawmaker Abdel-Karim Abu Salah said.
Deek said he and his Fatah colleagues met Arafat on Tuesday and told him they would work to bring down Quriea's government but that the Palestinian president gave them no response.
Asked about the threatened no-confidence vote, Quriea's chief of staff, Hassan Abu Libdeh, said: "The government has done its best despite facing big challenges. The PLC can take any measure it wants but the government will be judged on its record."
Quriea, a leading moderate, has threatened to quit in frustration several times since taking office last November.
The last crisis was in July when he retracted his resignation only after Arafat agreed to grant him additional powers over the sprawling security apparatus.
However, there have been no signs that Arafat, who has made similar reform promises before but never honored them, had actually given up any control.
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