SliminPV
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Link: UN envoy: Arafat to name PM candidate next week
UN envoy: Arafat to name PM candidate next week
By Reuters
Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat will nominate a prime minister next week and ask the PLO and Palestinian parliament to approve his choice, the United Nation's Middle East envoy said Friday.
Bowing to U.S. and European Union pressure, Arafat agreed two weeks ago to appoint a prime minister as part of political reforms sought by international mediators trying to restart Israeli-Palestinian peace talks after 29 months of violence.
"Mr. Arafat has informed me that he will call for a meeting of the PLO Central Council late next week and immediately thereafter, next Saturday, a meeting of the Palestinian Legislative Council," said Terje Roed-Larsen.
The 128-member Central Council is a top decision-making body in the Palestine Liberation Organization.
Emerging from a meeting with Arafat in his headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Larsen called the appointment of a prime minister an "important step."
Whom Arafat might tap for the job remained unclear. His reform-minded finance minister, Salam Fayyad, was long considered a favorite but said last week he had no intention of being a candidate.
It is also unclear how much authority Arafat will be willing to share with a prime minister running the daily affairs of the Palestinian Authority.
Israel and the United States have refused to deal with Arafat and called on Palestinians to replace him, saying he has failed to rein in - and even fomented - violence over the past two years, something which Arafat denies.
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