Palestinians Confirm Prime Minister
The Palestinian parliament confirmed Mahmoud Abbas and his Cabinet on Tuesday, clearing the way for the presentation of a U.S.-backed Mideast peace plan in the coming days.
Fifty-one of the 85 legislators supported Abbas. Eighteen opposed Abbas' proposed Cabinet, with three lawmakers abstaining.
The Israeli government called the confirmation a good start to the peace process.
President Bush has said he would unveil the peace plan, the so-called "road map" to Palestinian statehood, once Abbas has been installed, even though most details of it have been published already.
In a speech to lawmakers earlier, Abbas, 68, stuck to traditional Palestinian positions toward negotiations with Israel. But he also pledged to disarm militias and enforce the rule of law. Abbas affirmed his acceptance of the road map, but said he rejects Israel's attempts to alter the plan.
Earlier, while the parliament met, an Israeli helicopter gunship fired four missiles at a car in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, killing a Palestinian militant and a bystander and wounding two others, Palestinian hospital officials said.
In the West Bank, two other militants were killed when Israeli troops raided their hideout, and two Palestinian women were seriously wounded after being shot by Israeli army troops while working on their farm in the village of Kouzah east of Khan Younis, witnesses said.
Officials at the Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis identified one of the dead as Nidal Salama, 38, from the radical Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
Israel has killed scores of wanted militants in targeted attacks, including missile strikes, in the past 31 months of fighting, a practice that has drawn international condemnation.
As part of an internationally backed "road map" to peace, both Israel and the Palestinians would be required to halt all violence.
The Israeli army identified Salama as the top member of the Popular Front's military wing in Gaza, saying that he had directed a series of terror attacks and was planning more against Israeli targets in the Gaza Strip in coming days.
Salama was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1989 for involvement in the murder of suspected Palestinian collaborators with Israel, but was freed in 1999 under an interim peace agreement.
It was clear from the opening of the Palestinian parliament meeting in Ramallah that U.S. and Israeli plans to sideline Yasser Arafat have failed, reports CBS News Correspondent Robert Berger. Arafat, himself, opened the session, saying he is still committed to peace with Israel.
"In this very sensitive and dangerous period the whole region is facing, I call your respected council to give confidence to the new Cabinet that will be presented by my brother," Arafat said, referring to Abbas, with whom he had wrangled for weeks over the Cabinet's makeup.
Abbas, in his first policy speech since being tapped for his post, told legislators that there was no military solution to the Palestinians' conflict with Israel and rejected terrorism, pledging to control militant groups and confiscate illegal weapons.
"We denounce terrorism by any party and in all its forms ... because we are convinced that such methods do not lend support to a just cause like ours, but rather destroy it," he said.
But Abbas also staked out tough political positions — rejecting Israel's requests for changes in the expected "road map" to peace, and saying Israel would eventually have to withdraw from all occupied territory.
Arafat accused Israel of trying to sabotage the vote on the Cabinet by launching the missile strike. "Regretfully, this escalation is aimed at challenging the Palestinian legislative council," he told reporters at his West Bank headquarters.
The last missile attacks against Palestinian militants took place in Gaza City earlier this month. On April 8, Israeli forces killed eight people, including a leader of the militant group Hamas Saed Arabeed, and on April 10, troops killed Mahmoud Zitme, a leader of the Islamic Jihad group.
In Tuesday's attack, an eyewitness said that an Israeli helicopter gunship fired four missiles at a car Salama was driving south of Khan Younis. He said a second man fled the car before a second missile struck.
"I was trying to stop a taxi when I heard a huge explosion," said Abed Radwan, 25. "I saw ... a huge flame coming from the sky that hit the car."
Witnesses said helicopter gunships continued to hover over the area after the attack.
President Bush refuses to deal with Arafat, whom he considers tainted by terrorism, and he has been pushing for an alternate Palestinian leadership.
Arafat has been trying to retain as much power as he can and wrangled with Abbas for weeks before withdrawing some of his challenges to the Cabinet. Among them was his objection to the appointment of former Gaza strongman Mohammed Dahlan as a junior minister for security — an appointment Israel and the United States saw as vital to efforts to stop Palestinian attacks on Israelis.
Critics of the Abbas government say he missed an opportunity for a sweeping overhaul, and several of his appointees, including Dahlan, are tainted by corruption.