Arafat to Reshuffle Cabinet & Egypt Tells Sharon 'No Alternative to Arafat'

02/06/2002| IslamWeb

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's political advisor Osama al-Baz said he had told Israeli leaders during his visit to Jerusalem to stop demanding an alternative Palestinian leadership to Yasser Arafat.

"I told them they had no right to talk about the Palestinian leadership and to judge whether it is reliable or not, able or not," said al Baz, who conveyed on Friday a message from Mubarak to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

"I told them that if they granted themselves this right, that would allow several Arab states to say that the current Israeli leadership is not serious about peace and that they should wait until it is replaced," he told Egyptian public television. "I think that they (the Israelis) are now convinced that there is no alternative" to Arafat, he continued.

PALESTINIAN CABINET TO BE RESHUFLED

Yasser Arafat on Saturday met European Union (foreign policy chief Javier Solana and Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman.

According to a Palestinian daily, Arafat has named new ministers and redesigned his security apparatus. Al-Quds published Saturday said that the cabinet reshuffle was to take effect next week, with the number of portfolios trimmed from 32 to 28.

There was no prime-ministerial post created. He was to relinquish the Religious Affairs, General Education and Sport and Youth portfolios, retaining only the Interior portfolio.

According to this report, Gaza Preventive Security Service Chief, Mohammed Dahlan will become Arafat's adviser on the security council.

Salient among the new appointments were Hanan Ashrawi as education minister and Saeb Erekat as international cooperation minister.

PALESTINIAN ELECTIONS, 2002

In an interview published in a Greek newspaper on Sunday Arafat said elections would "most probably" be held in 2002, as part of "sweeping" reforms in the Palestinian Authority. "Very soon, there will be elections for president and legislators," Arafat said in the interview with the Athens daily Vradini. "Very soon. Most probably within 2002.

PHOTO CAPTION

A covey of diplomats began arriving in Jerusalem on the 30th of May, 2002, in renewed efforts to find a way out of the increasingly violent struggle between Israel and the Palestinians, although no one seemed to have any concrete idea of how to break the impasse. The visitors included the German foreign minister, Joschka Fischer, the foreign policy chief of the European Union, Javier Solana, and an Egyptian presidential adviser, Osama al Baz. (photo)- Mr. Baz's visit precedes a visit to Washington by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.