JERUSALEM — Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat stepped in to assert Tuesday that he — not his prime minister — is in charge of the Palestinian side in negotiations with Israel, throwing plans for an Israeli-Palestinian summit into confusion.
The dispute underlined the power struggle between Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas, the prime minister he grudgingly appointed under international pressure, as efforts to move forward on a new peace plan intensified.
Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had been set to hold talks Wednesday on implementing the U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan — their second meeting since Abbas assumed office in April.
But at a meeting of the PLO executive committee, Arafat said he wanted to review Israeli proposals on security arrangements before approving another summit — raising the possibility of a delay, a member of the committee said on condition of anonymity.
Afterward, Palestinian Cabinet Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo said the summit was on for Wednesday as planned.
But Sharon aide Raanan Gissin denied that. "There will be no meeting Wednesday," he told the Associated Press. Israel Radio reported the summit would take place Thursday, but officials in Sharon's office said no date has been set. The Israelis had no further comment.
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said he had been told the Sharon-Abbas meeting was postponed "for technical reasons." And White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said he "would not be surprised if a bilateral meeting still took place in the near future."
The PLO executive member said that with the jockeying over the summit, Arafat was sending a message to the United States, Israel and Abbas that Arafat makes the decisions over negotiations.
Arafat has been fighting a rearguard action to limit Abbas' powers — objecting to the makeup of his Cabinet, retaining control of most Palestinian security forces and keeping for himself the final word over peace moves.
The law that brought in Abbas in April limits his authority and gives the PLO executive the right of approval over negotiating steps with Israel. Arafat controls the PLO executive, where Abbas is his deputy. -->
Israel and the United States have been seeking to sideline Arafat, charging that he is tainted by terrorism and has led his Palestinian Authority into corruption and inefficiency.
In an interview with the Israeli daily Haaretz, published on the newspaper's Web site late Tuesday, Abbas spoke out in support of Arafat.
"Arafat is the elected president of the Palestinian Authority and should not be isolated," he said, calling on Israel to release Arafat from a virtual house arrest in his West Bank headquarters.
Sharon and Abbas met on May 17, the first Israeli-Palestinian summit meeting since the violence erupted in September 2000. No agreements emerged.
Meanwhile, officials are arranging a three-way summit with President Bush, Sharon and Abbas early next month, possibly in Jordan.
Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said Tuesday that concrete results could be expected. Bush "would not bother coming all the way out here to leave without a decision of some kind," Shalom told Israel TV.
Abed Rabbo said he hoped the trilateral summit would result in implementation of the peace plan, called the "road map."
Jordan's information minister said Bush would hold a three-way summit as well as a separate meeting with Egypt and Jordan's leaders next week in Jordan. But the White House said Bush is still considering a number of possibilities.
The road map is a three-stage U.S.-backed plan that calls for creation of a full Palestinian nation in 2005. The first stage calls for a halt to nearly 32 months of Palestinian-Israeli violence. Israel conditionally accepted the plan on Sunday, a month after the Palestinians approved the formula and insisted it be implemented unchanged.
At the United Nations, Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Tuesday called Israel's acceptance of the road map "a very encouraging development."
Israel, however, has raised 14 reservations about the plan, including a demand that only the United States should oversee implementation of the road map — not the other members of the quartet: Russia, the European Union and the United Nations.
"It is something we will tackle as we move forward," Annan said when asked about that demand, which would exclude the United Nations.
Sharon on Tuesday clarified a comment that caused a stir a day before — when he referred to Israeli "occupation" in the West Bank for the first time, a term often used by Palestinians and their dovish Israeli backers.
In a statement, Sharon said he was referring to Israeli rule over Palestinians as opposed to Israeli rule over the land, underlining his policy that Israel must retain strategic parts of the West Bank. Palestinians demand a total Israeli pullout.
In a speech Tuesday, Sharon said, "We are not occupiers. This is the homeland of the Jewish people."
In the interview, Abbas said he would not judge Sharon by his statements. "I know Sharon inside and out," said Abbas, who has met Sharon several times. "I'll believe him only when he implements the road map."
Violence continued Tuesday.
In the West Bank, Israeli troops killed a 16-year-old they said was throwing a firebomb. Two children, ages 7 and 9, were critically wounded in clashes with the military, Palestinian hospital officials said.
Five Palestinian children, a Palestinian woman and a police officer were injured Tuesday after accidentally detonating explosives in the West Bank city of Hebron.
Late Monday, Israeli soldiers fired on four diplomatic vehicles in the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun, diplomats said. No one was hurt. Peter Lundberg, an official from the Swedish Consulate in Jerusalem, said two bullets hit the windshield of the Swiss Consulate's armored car, and diplomatic cars of Sweden, Denmark and the European Union also came under fire.
The military expressed regret, saying soldiers fired to break up a crowd of Palestinians and bullets inadvertently hit the diplomat's vehicle.