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A Crawl Toward Mideast Peace

(USA Today) Ben Fishman - Mahmoud Abbas has yet to create a professional support staff he can trust to carry out his directives, and without which he can do little beyond making speeches. At the Ramallah headquarters Abbas inherited from Arafat, the wreckage has been cleared away but the administrative chaos sowed by Arafat remains. Abbas has no obvious management staff of his own and has allowed Arafat's tainted and unreliable courtiers to run his office. The disarray is a microcosm of the situation in the Palestinian territories, a weak central authority with factions angling for power. Late last month Abbas named Rafiq Husseini, a highly regarded, British-educated public health expert, as director of his office. A member of Jerusalem's most prominent family and a medical chemist who helped establish the Palestinian health care system, Husseini has worked with the Israelis and international aid groups. The more professional newcomers that Abbas brings on and the more corrupt old-timers he retires or kicks upstairs, the more likely he will be able to create a vibrant, loyal staff capable of managing domestic issues and relations with Israel. The writer is a researcher and special assistant at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
2005-05-13 00:00:00
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