WASHINGTON, July 27 (AFP) - The United States said Tuesday it was too soon to assess whether Yasser Arafat`s vow to revamp the Palestinian security forces met longstanding US demands for reform and declined to comment on the end of the standoff between Arafat and premier Ahmed Qorei.
"I don`t really have much of a comment on the political maneuverings within the Palestinian Authority," deputy State Department spokesman Adam Erelin said when asked about the end of the dispute which resulted in Qorei rescinding his resignation submitted 10 days ago.
"The important point for us is that concrete actions are taken that produce tangible results on the ground," he told reporters.
"Those results that we want to see are a real consolidation of the security services, real authority vested in the prime minister and real moves against the terrorist infrastructure in the Palestinian territories," Ereli said.
"That`s really the basis on which we`re going to make our assessments as opposed to who`s up, who`s down, who`s in, who`s out on any given day," he said, adding that Washington could not yet say whether Arafat`s pledge would satisfy calls for reform.
"I don`t think we have a basis to make a conclusion from what we`ve seen today," Ereli said.
Earlier Tuesday, Qorei ended the standoff with Arafat by agreeing to stay on as premier after mediators spent the last week trying to persuade the two men to resolve their differences.
A committee of MPs held talks with Arafat in Ramallah late Monday at his leadership compound where they secured an agreement for a crackdown on corruption and the publication of a law specifying the roles of the security branches and the division of power between the branches.
Qorei tendered his resignation on July 17 after a spate of kidnappings in Gaza that had illustrated the breakdown in law and order in the Palestinian territories. He had become increasingly frustrated at Arafat`s reluctance to loosen his grip on the control of the security services and at the lack of institutional reforms.
Although Arafat did slash the number of security services from eight to three, the move backfired when he first promoted and then demoted his unpopular cousin Musa Arafat from the post of head of general security after protests against the appointment.
Qorei`s standoff with Arafat had echoes of a dispute between the Palestinian leader and former premier Mahmud Abbas who quit after losing a battle for control of the security services but the promised revamp has failed to clear confusion over fundamental questions such as who is at their helm and the scope of their powers.