TTA: Arafat to have only a symbolic role as president
Palestine-Israel, Politics, 7/17/2002

The Paris weekly TTA which is concerned with strategic news talked about the existence of an agreed upon perception between Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the European Union taking into account the American- Israeli decision not to deal with Yasser Arafat.

In its Tuesday's issue the bulletin said that the visit of the Egyptian intelligence chairman to Israel and the Palestinian territories constitutes an evidence on this perception.

TTA noted that the Egyptian official proposed to the Palestinian leadership to amend the basic constition approved by the Palestinian authority several weeks ago to minimize the authorities of the President and to limit them into "honorary missions," as well as create the post of the prime minister in a way that allows Yasser Arafat to continue as head of the Palestinian authority together with keeping the presidency of the PLO executive committee, which represents all terms of reference to all Palestinian rule decisions.

The TTA indicated, noting rumored information that Cairo had proposed the name of the international cooperation and planning minister Nabil Shaath to assume the post of the prime minister and that Amman and Riyadh supported this scenario.

An Arab diplomatic source told the bulleting that the higher representative for the European Union foreign policy Javier Solana told the Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri during their meeting in Paris about the content of this move, noting that the Egyptian diplomacy was margined by the initiative of the Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah and the Beirut Arab summit seems to have likely resumed the diplomatic initiative lines.

Previous Stories:
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  Israeli radio: Israel decides to try Barghouthi and five colleagues   (7/12/2002)
  UN to host international media seminar on middle east peace process   (7/11/2002)

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