Palestinian Foreign Service Reform Linked with Bethlehem University
Professor Manuel Hassassian, Executive Vice President of Bethlehem University and Afif Safieh, Member of the International Board of Regents of Bethlehem University, are among the new professional diplomatic corps for Palestine – part of the reform efforts of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Palestinians Reforming Foreign Service
By MOHAMMED DARAGHMEH, Associated Press Writer Fri Nov 18,12:10 PM ET
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051118/ap_on_re_mi_ea/palestinians_diplomatic_housecleaning_2
RAMALLAH, West Bank - The Palestinians are cleaning out their embassies around the world, removing entrenched ambassadors and establishing a code of conduct in reforms aimed at transforming their calcified foreign service into a professional diplomatic corps, officials said. The campaign is the largest reform effort undertaken by Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas since he took power after Yasser Arafat's death a year ago, officials said this week. Arafat, who dominated Palestinian politics for more than three decades, left behind an administration riddled with corruption, where cronies were given choice appointments based on their connections rather than their qualifications.
Nasser Al Kidwa, Arafat's nephew and the former Palestinian representative to the United Nations, has forced 22 ambassadors into retirement and moved 13 others into different jobs since he became foreign minister early this year. Most of those removed were between 60 and 76 years old — 16 years beyond retirement age — and many had been in their post for decades, some for nearly 40 years, Palestinian officials said.
In their place, Al Kidwa appointed 33 new ambassadors, most of them prominent academics. They include Ilyas Sonber, a professor at the University of Paris, who will become the Palestinian ambassador to UNESCO, and Manuel Hassassian, Executive Vice President of Bethlehem University, who is the new ambassador to Britain. The oldest of the new ambassadors is 52.
Many Arab countries, such as Egypt and Jordan, recognize a Palestinian state, while other nations do not. The Arab countries have "ambassadors to the PLO" who are posted outside the West Bank and Gaza, some of them in Tunis, where the PLO is based. These Arab countries only have lower-level representatives in the Palestinian areas, as do the countries that do not recognize a Palestinian state. The Palestinian diplomats in Arab countries that recognize "Palestine" are full-fledged ambassadors. Elsewhere, they are lower-level envoys.
Arafat declared Palestinian independence in 1988 in a symbolic step. The Palestinian Authority is only expected to declare statehood once it has negotiated borders with Israel in peace negotiations. The United Nations does not recognize Palestine as an independent state. The Palestinian diplomatic corps, established as a branch of the PLO in the late 1960s, was riddled with problems. Many of the ambassadors, struggling to live on small salaries, took second jobs to supplement their incomes, said Ibrahim Khreisha, the Palestinian deputy foreign minister. Many stayed in their posts so long that they became citizens of the countries where they lived, prompting questions about their loyalty, he said.
As part of the reforms, the Foreign Ministry raised ambassadors' salaries and banned them from holding second jobs. In addition to the forced retirements, the Palestinian Authority is trying to shake up its diplomatic corps by shuffling around those envoys who remain. Of the roughly 90 ambassadors around the world, only 12 will stay in their current positions, Al Kidwa said. Under a new Palestinian law, ambassadors can serve only four years before they have to move on. In the shake-up, Hassan Abdul-Rahman, the ambassador to the United States, will head to Morocco. He will be replaced by Afif Safieh, the current ambassador to Britain – who is also a member of the International Board of Regents of Bethlehem University.
The Palestinians also held a two-day training course for new ambassadors which ended Wednesday, the first time such a course was held.
But the changes have met with resistance. Farouk Kaddoumi, the chief of the PLO's political department, which traditionally controlled the diplomatic service, has fought back. He sent letters to all the ambassadors urging them to ignore Al Kidwa's instructions, according to officials in the foreign ministry, who declined to be identified because they are not authorized to speak to the media.
Some of the ambassadors have sided with Kaddoumi and refused to leave, the officials said. Kaddoumi, who lives in Tunis, has repeatedly tried to undermine Abbas. He holds no government position and does not recognize the Palestinian Authority.
Al Kidwa blames the ambassadors' recalcitrance on the difficulties they face in severing their local ties, removing their children from schools and leaving other jobs. His deputy Khreisha was more direct. "Some of our diplomats are slow in acting because they are not accustomed to laws." Regardless, Al Kidwa said he was determined to succeed. "In the end, our reform program will go ahead," he said.
Otherwise, the reforms have won widespread praise. "It is a very positive step. It's one of the few positive steps taken by the Palestinian Authority," democracy activist Mustafa Barghouti said Thursday. "Palestinian diplomatic institutions were flabby and paralyzed ... now we have efficient new diplomats," added Barghouti, who ran against Abbas in January elections.
The reform drive is also an effort by Abbas to strengthen his hold on power by shifting control of the diplomats from the PLO, where he faces opposition to his leadership, to his Palestinian Authority.
