Palestinians ratify new Cabinet and new future.(The Orlando Sentinel)

Byline: Robert Stewart

Palestinians have opted for a regime change of their own. After years of failed leadership and empty promises of a sovereign state, they have finally realized the ultimate stumbling block to statehood and stability was none other than their leader, Yasser Arafat _ and pushed him aside.

On Tuesday, the parliament ratified a new Cabinet and a new future. Once established, this new government will render Arafat irrelevant and start, at long last, down the road to a state of their own.

Like much of his tenure, the last week for Arafat was a battle of reform vs. relevancy, and a conflict between self-interest and the best interests of his people. Arafat agreed recently to a new prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, as a major step toward reform of his own government. But when the prime minister-designate proposed a Cabinet that included a security chief willing to crack down on the terrorist Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a branch of Arafat's Fatah movement, he created a threat to the PLO chairman's tenuous hold on power. Abbas, and supporters in the region, won the power struggle, and Arafat reluctantly agreed to the new government.

A working plan for Palestinian statehood stands ready to be released by the White House, United Nations, European Union and Russia, the so-called quartet. But the plan has been on hold pending reform of the Palestinian leadership. President Bush made clear in a Rose Garden speech last June that Arafat must go and be replaced by "leaders not compromised by terror." But he also promised earlier this year that approval of new leadership by the parliament would trigger the proposed "road map," including the creation of a sovereign state by 2005. He must now follow through or lose the first real chance at stability in the region in many years _ and perhaps the last for years to come.

Though the Fatah movement now supports the new Cabinet, opponents may yet scuttle reform. But the majority of legislators will likely realize that it is time to take "yes" for an answer, and support the new government's pledge to crack down on militants.

This newly minted leadership team is the first step down a new and long-awaited road, but there are many such steps ahead. In order for the road map to statehood to achieve success, it will require concessions by Israel, and the new Palestinian leadership team must follow through on promised ...