Words Or Action? Calls for Palestinian reform, nonviolence grow as intifada sputters after two years. GIL SEDAN Jewish Telegraphic Agency Jerusalem hen Palestinian Authority leader Yasser Arafat condemned Palestinian attacks inside Israel this week, he wasn't only trying to please Israeli moderates. He also was responding to calls from a growing number of Palestinian figures who believe that the two-year-old intifada (uprising) has reached a dead end, and that the Palestinian struggle against Israel must take a more moderate course. The two most prominent voices in this context are Nabil Amer, the P.A.'s former minister for parliamen- tary affairs, and the new interior minister, Abdel Razek Yehiyeh. In an article this week in Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, the EA.'s house organ, former editor Amer urged Arafat to admit that he had erred when he turned to vio- lence two years ago and that the Palestinians were unlikely to receive now what they had been offered by President Clinton and former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak at the Camp David summit in July 2000. "We failed in the management of the historical process that we faced," Amer wrote. This week, there was another call for an end to violence — although it did appear to justify some acts of terror. On Tuesday, Arafat's Fatah movement released a letter saying it will prevent attacks on civil- ians in Israel, but suggested it will continue to target Israelis in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. There was some confusion, however, surrounding the letter. A Fatah leader in the West Bank said it was not the final version and that the Fatah leadership still had some reservations about the text. Amer, 53, resigned four months ago from the P.A. cabinet, demanding general reform. He spearheaded the demand for the establishment of a cabinet of technocrats who would help unify all security bodies, INT ensure judicial independence and call for early elec- tions. Palestinian legislators meeting this week in Ramallah echoed those demands. Indeed, some of the legislators threatened Tuesday to topple Arafat's new cabinet. The lawmakers said the cabinet, reshuffled by Arafat in June, still con- tains corrupt ministers (see story below). The Palestinian legislative council convened this week for a vote on the cabinet, but it was not clear whether Arafat supporters would try to delay it. The council convened a week after Yehiyeh's dra- matic appeal in a Reuters interview for an end to vio- lence against Israel. He repeated those comments in other interviews over the weekend, including inter- views to the Palestinian press. Instead of violence, Yehiyeh suggested, Palestinians should resort to nonviolent resistance. "Let's admit it — we have lost a lot," Yehiyeh said of suicide attacks in the Reuters interview. "I am not saying this side is to blame, or that. I'm saying there is occupa- tion and dealing with occupation in this manner has harmed us. Therefore, we have to find other ways to deal with it. "The Palestinian leadership condemns every suicide attack," he continued. "Shall we stop at condemnation? Is condemnation our only job? I say the whole con- cept has to change." The encouragement of suicide bombing has been destructive not just to the Palestinians' interna- tional image, but to the younger generation of Palestinians, Yehiyeh said. Arafat recently appointed Yehiyeh, 63, in an effort to show the Bush administration that indeed he was interested in ALL NEW 2002 C70 CONVERTIBLE 1 reform. Thus, some analysts said, Yehiyeh's moderate statements reflect Arafat's new line. In fact, the analysts said, Yehiyeh can express views that Arafat himself is reluctant to express for fear of antagonizing militants in Hamas, the Islamic Jihad and the Al-Aqsa Brigade of Arafat's own Fatah move- ment. Others speculated that Yehiyeh is part of a good cop/bad cop routine in which moderate statements are made to please the international community while, on the ground, P.A. forces do little against ter- rorist groups. A senior Israeli official told Reuters that he wel- comed Yehiyeh's remarks, but said Israel wanted action, not words. "There is a need to assume authority, to take full control the situation," the official said. "If they don't control the streets, the terrorists will control" them. Woiws on page 30 afat's 21-member cabinet was forced to being ousted by legislators in a no-confidence re lawmikers were to hold the vote, cabinet.min- a resignations to Arafat. on and incompetence among cabinet members, a *kit* at the session of the Palestinian legisla- i.said they would vote against Arafat's cabinet. fat set Jan. 20 as the date for Palestinian presiden- elections, The United States had sought to delay s of having the Palestinians create the s in eve aimed at turning Arafat into a figure- MICHIGAN'S #1 VOLVO SPRING TIME IMMEDIATE DELIVERY 200 NEW DWY E R 39 MONTH. LEASE LOW _ie.4..L.4 AS 28 MO. *39,000 miles, 20/ per mile for overage. 5575.00 refundable security deposit. Plus tax, title & license_ 51,645 due at deliVery. MSRP 545,350. Offer ends 9177102. . 9/13 2002 19 6 1 1600 • S80s • S40s ANDSONS VOLVO 248-624-0400 On maple Rd., West of Haggerty OPEN SATURDAY 10 4 www.dwyerandsons.com - - -