A senior aide to Mr Yasser Arafat said last night he had outlined a timetable for democratic reforms in the Palestinian Authority in meetings with senior US officials this week.
Mr Mohammed Rashid, economic adviser to the Palestinian president, told Reutersboth sides wanted to establish the fundamental changes to the authority's political and security apparatus before an international Middle East conference in late June or early July.
Mr Rashid said US officials were deeply involved in helping shape the changes, which he said would include cutting Mr Arafat's 32-member cabinet to perhaps 16 to 20 members.
Mr Rashid, who as financial adviser to Mr Arafat has taken part in various Middle East peace talks, said under the proposals he discussed in Washington the Palestinians would hold municipal elections in the fall.
Elections for the authority's president and legislative council would take place by year's end, he said. Palestinians have not had elections since January 1996, when they voted for Mr Arafat as president.
It was not clear how much agreement there was from the US side to specific proposals brought by Mr Rashid, but he said the Bush administration had "made it clear that we need to prepare a system that can serve a state and not just serve an authority".