Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas will announce his resignation ahead of a session of the Palestinian parliament Saturday, chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said.

Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas will resign in parliament on Saturday, Sept. 6, 2003 in frustration over being blocked in a power struggle with President Yasser Arafat, senior officials said. File photo shows Abbas addressing a government session in Gaza City on Aug. 20, 2003.   [Reuters]

"Abu Mazen will submit his resignation to President (Yasser) Arafat today, before the meeting with the legislative council," Erekat told The Associated Press. Abbas is widely known as Abu Mazen.

An aide to Abbas who spoke on condition of anonymity said Abbas would hand in his resignation within an hour, just before addressing the Palestinian parliament around noon (5 a.m. EDT).

Abbas has been weakened by his power struggle with veteran leader Arafat, the near-collapse of a U.S.-backed peace plan and his inability to improve the daily lives of Palestinians.

The beleaguered prime minister, on the job just four months, was to meet with legislators in a closed-door session Saturday to discuss the crisis with Arafat. Before the reports about a resignation, it appeared he would face, and possibly lose, a vote of confidence in parliament in the coming days.

Abbas has repeatedly threatened to resign, in an apparent attempt to pressure Arafat to hand over some of his powers. The threat carries considerable weight, because Arafat's international standing would slip even further were he to be seen as having engineered Abbas' ouster. It was not clear whether Arafat would accept an Abbas resignation or try to persuade him to stay.

Abbas and Arafat have been wrangling ever since Arafat appointed the prime minister under intense international pressure in April. The latest standoff is over control of the security forces. Abbas, backed by the United States, demands command over all men under arms, but Arafat refuses to relinquish control over four of the eight security branches.

The prime minister says he will not clamp down on militants, as required by the U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan. However, being in control of all the security forces would give him greater authority in renewed negotiations with Hamas, Islamic Jihad and renegades from his own Fatah movement.

Earlier this week, Abbas told parliament it must either back him or strip him of his post, saying he is not clinging to the job and would just as soon step down.

Parliament Speaker Ahmed Qureia initially opposed a vote, saying he did not want the legislature to get dragged into the power struggle between the two leaders.

But Qureia changed his mind on Friday and agreed to hold a vote, probably later this week. Parliament officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there is growing dissatisfaction with Abbas among legislators, and that the showdown can no longer be avoided.

Abbas' resignation or ouster would be a serious blow to the road map, and Israel and the United States would be left without a Palestinian negotiating partner, at least temporarily.

Both nations have said they will not do business with Arafat, whom they accuse of fomenting terrorism and consider an obstacle to peacemaking.

Israel's defense minister has threatened to expel Arafat. Israel's government has considered this idea in the past, but has been held back by U.S. opposition and by warnings of its security chiefs that Arafat could do more harm abroad than isolated at his West Bank headquarters.

However, the threshold for taking action against Arafat could be lowered by Abbas' departure.

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