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Aide: Arafat to name new cabinet
( 2002-10-01 12:01 ) (7 )

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is moving quickly to name a new Cabinet and remains open to other government reforms, a key aide said Monday. Arafat himself assured that Jan. 20 elections would not be delayed.

Arafat has been under pressure at home and abroad to clean up his administration.

His 21-member Cabinet was forced to resign on Sept. 11 to head off a no-confidence vote by the Palestinian legislature. It was the strongest political challenge to Arafat's leadership in years.

He still had not named a new Cabinet by Sept. 19, when Israel attacked his headquarters in Ramallah, smashing buildings around his office and demanding that he surrender aides Israel accused of terrorism.

The siege, which ended Sunday, caused a sudden jump in what had been waning support, according a new poll.

Nabil Abu Rdeneh, a senior Arafat adviser, said the Palestinian leader would not use that to avoid reforms and Arafat told reporters that he would not try to delay the elections.

"We already took a decision concerning the election and it has to be implemented," he said Monday, adding the dismissive quip: "Whoever does not like it should go drink from the ocean."

Abu Rdeneh, also speaking at the largely demolished compound, said, "We are still committed to continuing our reforms and we are still preparing ourselves for free elections."

"In the last 10 days, there was this attack that prevented us from carrying out any consultations," he said, "but definitely there should be a new Cabinet as soon as possible. President Arafat in the coming days will hold many discussions to appoint the new Cabinet."

While Arafat has agreed to name a new Cabinet, he has resisted efforts by his Fatah movement to force him to share power by naming a prime minister. Fatah's candidate for the job, Mahmoud Abbas, met briefly with Arafat after the siege, before leaving for meetings with Russian officials in Moscow.

On June 24, President Bush repeated U.S. support for a Palestinian state, but urged Palestinians to make reforms and to elect new leaders who are "not compromised by terror" — a remark widely seen as directed at Arafat.

Many Palestinians themselves have complained of corruption or incompetence within the Palestinian Authority. In August, a poll showed that 69 percent wanted Arafat to share power with a prime minister and as many as 44 percent said he should become a figurehead.