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Arafat agrees to share power and appoint new PM
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has agreed to appoint a prime minister - meeting a key demand by the US and Israel.
Mr Arafat made the announcement at his headquarters in the West Bank town of Ramallah on Friday.
Mr Arafat made the announcement at his headquarters in the West Bank town of Ramallah on Friday.
Friday, 14 February, 2003, 09:53 GMT
Arafat agrees to share power
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has agreed to appoint a prime minister - meeting a key demand by the US and Israel.
Mr Arafat made the announcement at his headquarters in the West Bank town of Ramallah on Friday.
However he did not say who the prime minister would be, when the appointment would take place, or how much power he would share with the prime minister.
The diplomatic "quartet" of the US, EU, UN and Russia has been said to favour the move as a way of easing Mr Arafat out of power and into a ceremonial presidency.
Israel - and an increasing number of ordinary Palestinians - also support appointing someone to run daily affairs in the Palestinian territories.
Mr Arafat has been the undisputed leader of the Palestinian movement since the early 1960s.
But there have been allegations of corruption and incompetence within his Palestinian Authority - as well as infighting encouraged by Mr Arafat as a way of preventing any of his deputies from becoming too powerful.
'Irrelevant'
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has refused to deal with him, calling him both a leader of Palestinian terrorism and "irrelevant".
On Sunday, he again accused Mr Arafat of being behind attacks on Israeli targets and called for his removal as leader.
"The new government will face difficult tasks - the war against terrorism and against its leader, the head of the Palestinian Authority," Mr Sharon said, referring to his efforts to build a new coalition government following elections in January.
But it has been revealed that Mr Sharon recently held his first direct talks with senior Palestinians for nearly a year.
He met Palestinian parliament speaker Ahmed Korei, also known as Abu Ala, in early February, officials on both sides have confirmed.
Mr Sharon offered an Israeli pull-out from Palestinian areas where militants are being reined in by Palestinian sources, one unnamed Israeli official told the Associated Press news agency.
The meeting lasted less than two hours.
© BBC MMIII
Arafat agrees to share power
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has agreed to appoint a prime minister - meeting a key demand by the US and Israel.
Mr Arafat made the announcement at his headquarters in the West Bank town of Ramallah on Friday.
However he did not say who the prime minister would be, when the appointment would take place, or how much power he would share with the prime minister.
The diplomatic "quartet" of the US, EU, UN and Russia has been said to favour the move as a way of easing Mr Arafat out of power and into a ceremonial presidency.
Israel - and an increasing number of ordinary Palestinians - also support appointing someone to run daily affairs in the Palestinian territories.
Mr Arafat has been the undisputed leader of the Palestinian movement since the early 1960s.
But there have been allegations of corruption and incompetence within his Palestinian Authority - as well as infighting encouraged by Mr Arafat as a way of preventing any of his deputies from becoming too powerful.
'Irrelevant'
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has refused to deal with him, calling him both a leader of Palestinian terrorism and "irrelevant".
On Sunday, he again accused Mr Arafat of being behind attacks on Israeli targets and called for his removal as leader.
"The new government will face difficult tasks - the war against terrorism and against its leader, the head of the Palestinian Authority," Mr Sharon said, referring to his efforts to build a new coalition government following elections in January.
But it has been revealed that Mr Sharon recently held his first direct talks with senior Palestinians for nearly a year.
He met Palestinian parliament speaker Ahmed Korei, also known as Abu Ala, in early February, officials on both sides have confirmed.
Mr Sharon offered an Israeli pull-out from Palestinian areas where militants are being reined in by Palestinian sources, one unnamed Israeli official told the Associated Press news agency.
The meeting lasted less than two hours.
© BBC MMIII
For more information:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/275...
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Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat said on Friday he had decided to appoint a prime minister at the urging of international peace brokers.
Arafat did not disclose whom he would name to the post or when the appointment would be made.
"In light of contact that we conducted with members of the Quartet...I decided to appoint a prime minister," Arafat told reporters at his headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
The so-called Quartet, comprising the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia, has been urging Arafat to make democratic reforms in his Palestinian Authority as part of a peace "roadmap" to end more than two years of Israeli-Palestinian violence.
Arafat said he would convene the Palestinian legislature and central council "to get their consent to take the necessary steps" to name a prime minister. He did not say when the two institutions would meet.
The Palestinian leader had resisted appointing a prime minister, apparently fearing such a move could weaken his power base.
But Western diplomats said the Palestinian leader recently came under intense international pressure to appoint a credible prime minister in order to survive politically.
U.S. President George W. Bush called in a Middle East policy speech last June for a new Palestinian leadership "not compromised by terror".
By Haaretz Service and Reuters