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Erakat To US: Palestinian Electoral Laws “None Of Your Business”
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"We were shocked when during our discussions the Americans spoke of changing the electoral law”
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OCCUPIED
JERUSALEM, Aug 24 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – Israeli
officials stepped up their attacks on Arafat's leadership, as they
prepared to welcome a
U.S.
envoy next week for talks they say will focus on U.S.-Israeli efforts
to sideline the Palestinian president, news agencies reported.
The
head of the U.S. State Department's Middle East desk, David
Satterfield, a former ambassador to Lebanon, will visit several Arab
states as well as Israel to explain why new leadership is required to
press ahead with reform of the Palestinian Authority, the officials
said, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"The
United States, just like Israel, believes that before Palestinian
legislative elections are held, the Afghan model must be applied with
the establishment of a caretaker government led by a prime minister
who can undertake genuine institutional and economic reform,"
another senior Israeli official told AFP, asking not to be named.
But the Palestinians swiftly reiterated their rejection of
U.S.
pressure to amend their constitution and create a new post of prime
minister as a brake on Arafat's powers.
"We have told the Americans that it's none of their
business," chief negotiator Saeb Erakat told the London-based
daily Al Hayat Saturday.
Erakat
said that the suggestion was made to the Palestinian delegation by
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and U.S. National Security
Adviser Condoleezza Rice,
when they met in Washington a couple of weeks ago, Al Hayat
reported.
"We
were shocked when during our discussions the Americans spoke of
changing the electoral law," he told the Arabic-language
newspaper.
Speaking
to Al Hayat, Maher al Masry, the Palestinian Economic Minister
said that an American delegation, which met with the Palestinians in
Paris
nearly two weeks ago, to discuss reform
asked the Palestinians to guarantee Israeli security in
exchange for withdrawing Israeli troops.
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