by Hisham Abdallah
RAMALLAH, West Bank, Aug 24 (AFP) - The Palestinian parliament postponed a much anticipated session on demands for reform Tuesday as veteran leader Yasser Arafat dug his heels in over a refusal to turn pledges into concrete action.
The official explanation for the postponement decision, which came late Monday night, was to allow deputies to take part in a day of solidarity in support of Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike in Israeli jails.
But members of the Palestinian Legislative Council said that the delay had come after a refusal by Arafat to bow to demands for the implementation of a package of reforms.
Arafat had raised hopes that he would agree to longstanding demands to open files against officials suspected of corruption and to clearly define the roles and divisions between the myriad security services when he admitted last week that his Palestinian Authority had been guilty of "unacceptable mistakes".
"The meeting has been postponed because of the strike in support of the prisoners but also because there has been no agreement between president Arafat and the parliamentary commission on the reform issue," said the deputy speaker of the parliament, Hassan Khreisheh.
He said that Arafat had so far limited himself to "generalities which are insufficient" in both his speech and a parliamentary committee which is pushing for the enactment of reforms.
"He must translate his words into concrete measures," Khreisheh told AFP.
Parliamentary sources said that Arafat met with deputies from his Fatah movement late Monday for talks to ensure their support against any motions which could embarrass him and against calls for the resignation of his prime minister Ahmed Qorei.
One of the MPs who was present at the meeting, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that Arafat had insisted that he had already sent a letter to the speaker of parliament, Rawhi Fattuh, giving his support for reforms.
"Nobody can prevent you from acting against corruption," Arafat told the MPs.
The solidarity day for the prisoners was widely observed by shopkeepers and government employees in the Palestinian territories but did not stop public transport.
In the southern city of Hebron, around 2,000 people took part in a rally for the prisoners, bringing traffic to a halt as they set fire to tyres.
Elsewhere in the West Bank, hundreds of Palestinians were rounded up by Israeli forces Tuesday during a large-scale operation at a refugee camp in the northern city of Nablus.
Around 300 men were herded into a school in the Askar refugee camp in the east of the city after some 30 jeeps and armoured vehicles entered at around 7:00 am (0400 GMT), Palestinian security sources and witnesses said.
Troops then proceeded to carry out house-to-house searches as they imposed a curfew and ordered all males aged between 16 and 40 into the school compound.
An Israeli military source confirmed that "several hundred" people were being held at the school "for questioning in order to check their conncetions with terrorist activity and organisations."
The source said that the detainees were being provided with food and water, while areas had been put aside for praying.
"All their needs are being met," she said.
Meanwhile in Bethlehem, a commander of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs` Brigades militant group and his brother were detained during an operation near the southern West Bank town`s maternity hospital, sources on both sides said.
Rateb and Adnan Abayat were picked up in what an Israeli military source said was a "pinpointed operation targeting the terrorist infrastructure".
A machine gun, five assault rifles, a telescopic lens and amunition were recovered during the operation, another source added.
Adnan had been wanted by the Israeli authorities for some three years on suspicion of having masterminded a series of attacks, including suicide bombings.