Palestinian PM wins deal for new cabinet

RAMALLAH - Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie has won the agreement of lawmakers for a new cabinet after a third successive day in a crisis over demands for more reformers and fewer Yasser Arafat loyalists.

In a meeting with members of the dominant Fatah faction, Qurie overcame obstacles that had threatened to force him to resign and complicate efforts to overhaul the corruption-plagued Palestinian Authority as he pursues peace efforts with Israel.

After a four-hour meeting with Qurie and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday legislators said he had agreed to demands to name more technocrats and that more than half the cabinet would be comprised of newcomers.

"We have reached an agreement with brother Abu Ala, " lawmaker Salah Tamari told Reuters, using a common nickname for Qurie. "The majority of Fatah lawmakers will vote in favour of his cabinet. "

Several lawmakers said that if no new obstacles arose, the Palestinian legislature would convene on Thursday to ratify the new 24-member cabinet.

Parliamentary speaker Rahwi Fattouh had said before the groundbreaking meeting that a vote on the cabinet would be postponed until Thursday or Saturday, -- the third delay this week -- after Qurie had been unable to muster a majority.

A new government is key to Abbas' bid to clean up the Palestinian Authority and merge a dozen often competing security services to deal more effectively with anti-Israel militants -- steps demanded by the United States and other big donors.

Qurie's initial cabinet presented on Monday contained only four new faces, prompting a near rebellion by lawmakers who want to sweep away the corruption-tainted vestiges of Arafat's era.

The death of Arafat, an icon of Palestinian nationalism, has left his old guard ministers more vulnerable to challenges from reform-minded lawmakers reflecting widespread public frustration with government waste and corruption.

Qurie, an Arafat appointee who could never convince the veteran leader to enact widely demanded reforms, will have to resign if his cabinet fails to win parliamentary approval.

Aides to Qurie accused Abbas' allies in their Fatah faction, which controls two-thirds of the seats in parliament, of trying to force him out. The two are longtime rivals.

However, Abbas, who had remained on the sidelines, intervened on Wednesday to win critical support from dissident lawmakers to back Qurie's cabinet.

Palestinian officials said there were now 17 new faces among the 24 ministers in Qurie's revamped cabinet lineup. Most are not lawmakers, as Fatah dissidents had demanded.

Nasser Yousef and Mohammed Dahlan, Abbas loyalists chosen to help him reform the Palestinian Authority and its security services, had agreed to join the new government, officials said.

Qurie had managed to retain his original choice of longtime Arafat ally Nabil Shaath, tipped to become deputy premier and information minister.

However, he was forced to drop at least four other Arafat loyalists, among them cabinet minister Saeb Erekat, a top Palestinian spokesman who had worked with Arafat for years.

Lawmakers agreed that Arafat's nephew and former UN envoy Nasser al-Kidwa be named foreign minister, owing to his long experience in the field. Earlier sources had said he was dropped from the list.

"What characterises this cabinet is that it contains a reasonable number of experienced and competent people," lawmaker Talal Salameh said.

Prospects for peacemaking have brightened since Abbas succeeded Arafat last month on a platform of non-violence, and persuaded militants to abide by a de facto truce.

- REUTERS