RAMALLAH, West Bank, 3 November 2003 — Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei was applying the finishing touches to a new enlarged government yesterday as his Israeli counterpart Ariel Sharon embarked on a mission to halt Russian efforts to turn the “road map” into a binding UN resolution.

The central committee of the Palestinian mainstream Fatah movement was widely expected to give its approval to Qorei’s line-up which will take the place of an emergency eight-man Cabinet whose mandate expires tomorrow.

“We are waiting for Abu Alaa (Qorei) to hand us the list of his government,” central committee member Abbas Zaki told AFP.

“We are ready to meet today, this evening or tomorrow in order to discuss it and give it our support. We are just waiting for him to apply the finishing touches.” Sources close to Qorei said they were expecting the premier to unveil a line-up of around 24 ministers. At least 15 would be members of Fatah, which is headed by Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and to which Qorei also belongs.

One Fatah leader said that he expected new blood such as Qadurra Fares — one of the men behind an alternative peace plan known as the Geneva Initiative — to be given a position. The initiative, which was drawn up by left-wing Israelis and Palestinian politicians, has been thrust into the limelight amid a breakdown in progress for the “road map” for peace.

The road map was likely to be the focus of Sharon’s talks in Russia which is one of the four co-sponsors of the project.

Sharon, who flew in to Moscow yesterday, was due to meet with Putin the next day when he was expected to seek to forge common ground with Russia’s own battle against extremists in Chechnya.

During his visit, Sharon is also due to meet with Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov and Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov.

Meanwhile violence continued unabated in the Palestinian territories. Five Israeli soldiers were injured when a device exploded while they were driving in an armored jeep in the West Bank town of Nablus, sources on both sides said. Four Palestinians later suffered minor injuries in exchanges of fire with Israeli forces after three tanks and 10 jeeps entered Nablus’ Balata refugee camp, Palestinian sources said. Israeli sources also reported that a Qassam rocket, makeshift devices usually fired by Hamas fighters based in northern Gaza, had landed in fields close to a school in the Israeli town of Sderot.