Press analyses Palestinian deal

Last minute deal said to have saved Prime Minister Abbas' post

Israeli newspapers were quick to react to the announcement that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and his new prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas, had reached a last-minute deal over appointments to the new Palestinian cabinet.

Palestinian papers, however, were slower off the mark, and were less categorical.

Most Israeli papers see the deal as a defeat for Mr Arafat and a victory for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

"There were days in which Yasser Arafat used to forcefully slap those who disagreed with him," the independent daily Ma'ariv comments.

But, it adds, "yesterday in Ramallah, in his office, it was Arafat who received a strong, resounding, and blunt slap."

The paper argues that Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, did not emerge unscathed, either.

Red-letter day

"The heavy pressure put on Arafat only convinced the already convinced Palestinian street that Abu Mazen's government was set up to satisfy Israel and the US," it warns.

The Jerusalem Post suggests that "the power struggle over the last few days could be Arafat's last battle".

Once the new cabinet is sworn in, it adds, Mr Arafat "will be eased upstairs, if not out of the door".

The liberal daily Ha'aretz sees the establishment of a new cabinet sidelining Mr Arafat as a "red-letter day" for Mr Sharon, contending that after two years he "has got what he wanted".

Ma'ariv, however, points out that the deal presents Mr Sharon with problems, too.

"Abu Mazen's success and Arafat's failure bring the road map to Sharon's table, and Sharon himself to the junction of significant decisions which he fears so much... on the horizon Tony Blair and George Bush lie in wait, and someone will need to deal with all this sometime."

Difficult birth

The agreement came too late for many Palestinian commentaries, which continued to urge a speedy solution to the crisis.

But a report in the independent Al-Ayyam notes that Egyptian mediation had facilitated the "difficult" birth of the new cabinet and that its formation had been welcomed internationally.

The paper also looks forward to the next stage of the process - elections in the Palestinian Authority.

"A peaceful and effective national dialogue," it stresses, "is needed to provide a suitable environment for the elections."

Al-Hayat al-Jadidah makes a similar point, saying: "The world is waiting for a transitional government in order for elections to be held."

The paper also says that individual portfolios are not important, since the Israeli occupation authority "is the only one which is really governing".

"The only important thing is that we keep on fighting against the occupation, because our people want freedom," it adds.

And Al-Ayyam argues that the new cabinet has to get down to work rapidly, "before attention shifts from the Palestinian ordeal to another regional and international issue".

BBC Monitoring, based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.