WASHINGTON Sept. 6 —
The Bush administration found its plans for peace between Israel and the Palestinians in disarray Saturday with the resignation of Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, whom the Americans considered the only credible Palestinian peacemaker.
In the hours after Abbas, the apparent loser in a power struggle with Yasser Arafat, submitted his resignation, stunned administration officials were uncertain that Abbas would follow through. By afternoon, however, a State Department official said the administration had become more convinced that Abbas really was quitting, and Arafat would accept his resignation.
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