Posted on 03/01/2003 12:54:09 PM PST by HAL9000
GAZA CITY, March 1 (AFP) - Yasser Arafat has called for a meeting next week to select a prime minister, as part of reforms demanded by Washington and Israel linked to the creation of a Palestinian state, a senior aide said Saturday.
The Palestine Liberation Organization's "central council will meet from March 8 to 12 and then the parliament will convene to discuss the nomination of a prime minister," Nabil Abu Rudeina told AFP.
Arafat has been under intense pressure in recent months to reform his administration, accused by Israel and the United States of widespread corruption and links to militant groups.
Under further pressure from the European Union, which maintains better relations with the veteran leader, he pledged after a meeting with officials from the so-called quartet of Middle East diplomatic players on February 14 to appoint a premier.
A Palestinian source earlier told AFP the nomination would probably take place on March 11 following a meeting of the parliamentary Palestinian Legislative Council, though UN envoy Terje Roed-Larsen said Friday the selection would take place next Saturday.
Abu Rudeina urged Israel, which is occupying most of the West Bank, to not hinder the holding of the meetings in the territory's main city of Ramallah.
Israeli public radio also reported that the Palestinian leadership had asked Israeli authorities to allow their representatives from both the West Bank and Gaza Strip to attend the meetings.
This would require authorization for delegates based in the Gaza Strip to cross Israeli territory to enter the West Bank.
The Israeli government has yet to reply officially to this request, but sources close to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told the radio it would allow Palestinians "not involved in terrorism" to attend the meetings, effectively excluding a number of delegates.
Israel and the United States are hoping the appointment of a premier will relegate Arafat, whom they refuse to deal with, to a purely symbolic role.
The appointment must be voted on by the PLO's central council as well as the parliament.
Finance minister Salam Fayad, PLO second-in-command Mahmud Abbas, international cooperation minister Nabil Shaath and PLC speaker Ahmed Qorei have been unofficially tipped as candidates for the new post.
Fayad, who is a favourite of the United States and Europe owing to his crusade for transparency within the Palestinian Authority, said last week he was not interested in the post.
When Arafat, who has spent more than a year isolated by Israeli forces in his battered Ramallah headquarters, accepted the idea of a prime minister last month he linked it to the quartet's so-called "roadmap" which calls for the creation of a Palestinian state by 2005.
However the quartet members -- the European Union, Russia, United Nations and United States -- have not yet agreed on a definitive version of the peace plan to end the 29 months of fighting, with the Palestinians supporting a European draft and Israel favouring a US version.
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