MIDDLE-EAST: Ostracised both by Israel and by the Bush administration, the Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat is said to be contemplating establishing a new post of prime minister, and reducing his position to a more symbolic role.
According to Palestinian sources, Mr Arafat has approached three leading ministers, Mr Saeb Erekat, Mr Nabil Sha'ath and Mr Yasser Abed-Rabbo, about standing for the position, which would be voted on as part of wider elections tentatively scheduled for mid-January.
Mr Abed-Rabbo, the PA's information minister, is said to have ruled himself out of contention. Not so, thus far at least, Mr Erekat and Mr Sha'ath.
Opinion polls have suggested that most Palestinians favour the creation of a prime ministerial post, as part of wider reforms designed to reduce corruption in the PA.
Talk of such a change comes amid other reports of Arab initiatives designed to advance the prospects of a return to Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations.
As key international and Arab leaders gather in New York for consultations, PA and moderate Arab leaders are said to be backing the idea of seeking UN recognition of an independent Palestinian state in the Gaza Strip, West Bank and East Jerusalem, without precisely defined borders, soon after January's elections.
Israel and the Palestinians would then attempt to reach a permanent peace accord over the following year, and to implement it in the 12 months after that.
The problem with all this fresh thinking is that it is certain to be rejected by the Israeli government, and likely to be rebuffed, too, by the Americans.
In his Middle East speech on June 24th, President Bush urged the Palestinian public to elect different leaders.
Mr Sha'ath, the PA planning minister, is very much part of the old guard and has also been a frequent subject of allegations of corruption.
Mr Erekat, too, is extremely close to Mr Arafat.
Israel's prime minister, Mr Ariel Sharon, would doubtless argue that the installation of either of these two men as prime minister would represent the de facto maintenance of Mr Arafat's personal control - and Washington would almost certainly agree.
As for the unilateral declaration of statehood, Mr Bush made clear that he favoured the creation of an independent Palestine but only subject to the replacement of the current PA administration.
Hosting the Israeli Defence Minister, Mr Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, in Alexandria yesterday, Egypt's president, Mr Hosni Mubarak, delivered a less than ringing endorsement of Mr Arafat's leadership, saying mildly that "we differ" with the Israeli-American call for the PA leader's removal, and then adding, somewhat vaguely "we can find a way, without affecting Arafat, to help negotiations and reach a solution".
Mr Ben-Eliezer had insisted to the Egyptian president that Mr Arafat was not "working for the interest of his people" and was the main obstacle to progress.
Prior to his talks with Mr Ben-Eliezer, Mr Mubarak had sounded far more strident, declaring in a newspaper interview that "sidelining Arafat will be a big mistake, we will all regret".
In Gaza city, for the third time in recent days, protesters demanded the PA provide them with jobs.
In the West Bank city of Qalkilya, Palestinian sources said a man was killed when Israeli soldiers threw stun grenades into a building that then caught fire.
The most senior Israeli politician ever jailed for corruption, former interior minister Aryeh Deri, was released from jail yesterday after serving two years.
Deri, one-time leader of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, won a ruling on Thursday reducing his jail time by a third for good-behaviour, but has been barred from politics for 14 more months.