Palestinian council delays no-confidence vote in government

The Palestinian Legislative Council agreed on Monday to postpone examining the issue of withdrawing trust from the Palestinian government until June 25, according to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's request.

The head of the Palestinian Legislative Council, Ahmad Qorei, said that he received messages from the Palestinian president and from the secretary of the executive committee for the Palestine Liberation Organization in which they requested a postponement to the council session that was to be held yesterday to examine withdrawing the trust from the government. The session was put off for 10 days, during which consultations will be made.

Querea confirmed that the council's coming meeting will view voting on granting the trust to the new Palestinian Cabinet, expressing his hope that President Arafat's situation may form the beginning of new era.

A controversy took place on Tuesday among the Palestinian deputies concerning the executive authority's seriousness about changing its working methods and not only the individuals holding ministerial posts, as they would view such change as merely cosmetic.