Arafat condemns terror, says elections will be held in January

RAMALLAH, West Bank -- Yasser Arafat condemned terror attacks and promised to hold general elections in January, but in a rambling speech to the Palestinian parliament Monday he fell short of outlining clear steps against terror or agreeing to share some power with a prime minister.

Fumbling with microphones and straying from prepared text, the Palestinian leader also offered -- apparently in jest -- to give up executive powers if asked.

The parliament session in Arafat's sandbagged West Bank headquarters came at what could be a pivotal point in the two years of Israeli-Palestinian violence, with signs of a thaw coinciding with Palestinian militants' efforts to stage attacks of unprecedented scale.

In a speech that was both conciliatory and packed with accusations against Israel, Arafat said he condemned "attacks against Israeli civilians" and that such attacks drew attention away from Palestinians' suffering under Israeli occupation. He told legislators to uphold the national interest -- but he skipped passages from the draft that included a call on parliament to ban suicide attacks.

Addressing Israelis, Arafat said: "We want to achieve peace with you. We want security and stability for us and you and for the entire area. ... After 50 years of struggle, I say it's enough of the struggle and bloodshed."

Raanan Gissin, an adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, said the speech was meaningless and that Palestinian reform would not work with Arafat in power. "Peace and reforms can only happen when Arafat is not there," Gissin said.

In Gaza, Ismail Abu Shanab of the Islamic militant group Hamas said Arafat showed no clear strategy. "We need to ... find a way to challenge the Israeli aggression," said Abu Shanab, whose group has carried out scores of suicide attacks that have killed more than 250 Israeli civilians in the past two years.

The Palestinian legislature has convened only sporadically, and usually with a low turnout, during the past two years, because of Israeli travel restrictions.

Arafat's maneuvers seemed to please no one, with several Palestinian legislators complaining he had held off on presenting his new Cabinet to parliament for approval, and that he had not set a specific election date.

When Arafat mentioned that presidential, parliamentary and municipal elections would be held in early January -- as previously announced by aides -- one legislator shouted: "What is needed is a presidential decree with a specific date."

Arafat's confirmation of the January date appeared to defy the United States, which has sought a delay in presidential elections in hopes of winning Palestinian agreement to installing a prime minister who would take over day-to-day governance and render Arafat a figurehead.

The idea of a prime minister is also popular among Palestinians fed up with official corruption and mismanagement, and some legislators have conditioned support for Arafat's new Cabinet on creation of a prime ministerial post.