JERUSALEM -- Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, under intense pressure domestically and internationally to reform his government, announced yesterday that he has restructured his Cabinet and relinquished control of some of his security forces.

In what amounts to the first changes to the Palestinian parliament in four years, Arafat slimmed down his Cabinet from 31 to 21 ministers and brought in new ministers for finance, justice, parliamentary affairs, public works and education.

In perhaps the most significant change, a former army commander was named interior minister to oversee Palestinian police.

Arafat had assumed the Interior Ministry portfolio as head of the Palestinian Authority when it was established in 1994. He will still have the final say over security issues, but giving up the office is a move toward fulfilling U.S. and Israeli requests that he delegate oversight of his unwieldy security structure.

Results of the changes made yesterday will be closely watched by Israel and the United States, whose officials are pressing Arafat to end violence, and also by some Palestinians who see their government as corrupt and authoritarian.

Last night, to show he is serious about the police reforms, Arafat ordered the arrest of Abdullah Al-Shami, a leader of Islamic Jihad, which claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing Wednesday in northern Israel that killed 17 people. Al-Shami was arrested in his neighborhood in the Gaza Strip, officials said.

"This government is trying to rebuild the structures of its ministries with more accountability," said Yasser Abed Rabbo, Palestinian Authority information and culture minister, at a news conference yesterday in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

Rabbo said the restructured Cabinet faces a daunting task because recent Israeli army operations destroyed much of the infrastructure, including Arafat's presidential compound. "The Israeli incursions will be obstacles for this government," he said.

Palestinian officials said more details about how the police forces will be run will be announced later. Also, Arafat is expected this week to schedule election dates -- for parliament in the fall and for president in January.

'The same faces'

But even though the reforms appear to be extensive, only five of the 21 ministers were plucked from outside the government. Most of the others either moved from one ministry to another or were promoted from deputy positions.

"There are too many of the same faces," said Abdul Jawed Saleh, a member of the Palestinian parliament who represents Ramallah and is an ardent critic of Arafat. "These people need to go."

The reforms are also unlikely to satisfy Israel, which has demanded that the Palestinian Authority be revamped and that violence end before it will resume peace negotiations. Israeli officials insist that no true changes are likely as long as Arafat remains in charge and that discussions about a future Palestinian state will not be possible until violence ends.

Only test is results

Dore Gold, foreign policy adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, said yesterday that the only test of whether Arafat has made significant changes will be if the Palestinian leader forces militant groups to stop their attacks.

Since Wednesday, 21 Israelis have died -- in the suicide bombing in northern Israel, in a sniper attack near Ramallah, and in a shooting attack at a West Bank settlement that claimed the lives of a soldier and a couple.

"After a weekend in which a young Israeli and his pregnant wife were murdered by Palestinian terrorists in cold blood," Gold said in an interview yesterday, "Israelis are going to view these proposals for reform as mostly smoke and mirrors."

Meanwhile, about 10 Israeli tanks and armored personnel carriers entered the West Bank town of Tulkarm. The army has been making almost daily forays into Palestinian areas, searching for militants.

Chance to satisfy all

American officials also are demanding reform on the security front. Last week, CIA Director George J. Tenet visited Arafat to discuss revamping his police forces and paring down the multiple, overlapping agencies.

Saleh, who was beaten by Palestinian police three years ago when he protested Arafat's government, said Arafat has to make reforms without being seen as capitulating either to his people or to the Israelis and the Americans.

Saleh said that if Arafat makes the right choices, he could satisfy both sides. But that, he said, would require Israel to restart political negotiations to prove to the Palestinians that something can be gained by talking. Israel says it won't entertain talks until the violence stops.

"If this new government is both open and democratic, then it will be good for all of us, Palestinians, Americans and Israelis," Saleh said. "If there is a peaceful solution on the horizon, then people will turn against anyone who wants to destroy it. But if the Israelis don't give us any hope, then neither Arafat nor anyone else will be able to curtail the violence."

The new ministers in the Cabinet are mostly longtime Arafat supporters. One independent thinker and outsider named to a post is Ghassan Khatib, a political analyst from East Jerusalem and a member of the Palestinian People's Party, formerly the Community Party.

New interior minister

Leading the Interior Ministry is Maj. Gen. Abdel-Razzek Yehiyeh, a former commander of the Palestinian Liberation Army in Jordan. He will be in charge of the security forces; Arafat will retain control over his elite guard unit, Force 17, and the intelligence unit.

Yehiyeh, 73, is seen as an Arafat loyalist, but his appointment still came as a surprise. It had been widely expected that the preventative security chief for the Gaza Strip, Mohammed Dahlan, would be named head of the combined security forces in Gaza and the West Bank.

U.S. choice overlooked

Dahlan, regarded as a pragmatic negotiator and possible future leader, had been courted by Tenet and has retained many ties with American and Israeli officials. Aides said Arafat thought Dahlan's credibility might be questioned because of his close association with the United States.

But Dahlan, who resigned two weeks ago from his security post in Gaza, has been offered a job as an adviser to Arafat, which could give him more access and influence than a Cabinet post. But critics in the Palestinian government complain that Yehiyeh's appointment means business as usual.

"He is Arafat's man," Saleh said. "He is a yes man." As for Dahlan's possible appointment as an Arafat adviser, Saleh said the leader has "many advisers. Some don't see him for more than one year. It is up to Dahlan as to how much he makes of this new position."

Step toward statehood?

The Palestinians see their new government as a precursor to an independent state. Last month, Arafat signed into law a provision making the judiciary independent from the executive branch, which had been passed by parliament six years ago but had languished on Arafat's desk.

But the question will be whether this new group of ministers will be willing and able to make the Palestinian Authority accountable to its citizens and impose the necessary security. Arafat stunned Israeli and American officials last month when he invited representatives from Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine to join his government.

All three are political groups, but they also have militant wings that are responsible for much of the violence, including suicide bombings, directed against Israel. All three declined to join Arafat's government, saying they did not want to be part of a government that wants to negotiate and live side by side with Israel.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.