RAMALLAH, West Bank, 28 February 2003 — Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is to appoint a prime minister on March 8, UN Middle East envoy Terje Roed-Larsen told reporters yesterday as he was leaving a meeting with Arafat in Ramallah.
“Arafat informed me there will be a meeting of the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization) central council later next week and immediately thereafter, next Saturday, a meeting of the PLC (Palestinian Legislative Council or parliament) during which he will announce the name of the prime minister,” he said.
A Palestinian official said later the PLC meeting would take place on March 11 and was aimed at amending the Palestinian Authority’s basic law, or de facto constitution, so as to introduce a new article providing for a prime minister.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said Arafat would announce the prime minister’s identity “probably that same day”.
He said the PLO’s central council would also meet on March 10 to review the recently drafted Palestinian constitution, which will replace the basic law once a Palestinian state is created.
Arafat announced last Friday that he had officially agreed to appoint a prime minister. The veteran leader has been under intense pressure over recent months to reform his administration.
Finance Minister Salam Fayad, PLO second-in-command Mahmud Abbas, International Cooperation Minister Nabil Shaath and PLC Speaker Ahmed Qorei have been unofficially branded as potential candidates for the newly created post.
Fayad, who is the United States’ and Europe’s favorite owing to his fight for transparency within the Palestinian Authority, said last week he was not interested in the post.
In Madrid, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his Spanish counterpart Jose Maria Aznar yesterday pledged a fresh drive to kickstart the stalled peace process between Israel and the Palestinians.
“Britain and Spain share a very common position on the absolute priority of restarting the peace process in the Middle East,” Blair said during a joint press conference with Aznar in Madrid.
“We now have a very clear common agreement across the world that the fairest solution is two states — an Israel confident of its security and a viable Palestinian state — living side by side.
“It is our desire that we re-begin that process and reach that objective as soon as we possibly can and both of us will play our full part in achieving that,” Blair said.
