In a last-minute mediation mission, Arab leaders pressed Yasser Arafat on Wednesday to end a standoff with his prime minister-designate, Mahmoud Abbas, over the composition of the new Palestinian Cabinet. Abbas must present a list of ministers to Arafat by midnight Wednesday or step aside. He has the sole authority to form the Cabinet, but in practice he needs Arafat's blessing. The Cabinet requires the approval of Parliament, where the ruling Fatah party, which is siding with Arafat in this showdown, commands a solid majority. In the night from Tuesday to Wednesday, Arafat received phone calls from Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Qatari Foreign Minister Sheik Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabor Al Thani and Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou, a senior Palestinian official said. Mubarak called twice, and also dispatched his intelligence chief, Omar Suleiman, to the West Bank for hastily arranged talks with Arafat on Wednesday.
The Russian envoy to the Middle East, Andrei Vdovin, met with Arafat on Tuesday and called the Palestinian leader again later in the day. British Prime Minister Tony Blair also talked to Arafat by phone Tuesday. In Washington, U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Tuesday that it was up to the Palestinians, and not the United States, to choose their leader. However, Abbas should be free to select his Cabinet, Boucher said. "You don't have an empowered prime minister, you don't have a leadership that's capable of establishing the institutions of a state unless the leaders get to choose the members of their cabinet," Boucher said.
Source: SPA
