Middle East: In yet another sign that the powers of Yasser Arafat have waned, the Palestinian parliament yesterday put the final seal on a bill defining the powers of a future prime minister, and in the process rejected the Palestinian leader's bid to curtail the authority vested in the new post, writes Peter Hirschberg, in Jerusalem
Mr Arafat, who acceded to US pressure to set up the post of prime minister a few weeks ago, had insisted the law would require any newly appointed cabinet to be vetted by him.
Ahead of the parliamentary session yesterday, the Palestinian leader, apparently sensing he did not have majority backing, dropped his demand.
Last week, President George Bush made the unveiling of the Quartet-backed peace "road map" for the Middle East contingent on the appointment of a Palestinian prime minister with real authority.
Mr Arafat has appointed Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), the No. 2 in the PLO and a moderate, to the post. But Abu Mazen, who has been waiting to see whether the newly created post will be more than a figurehead position, has yet to accept formally.
In the West Bank, two senior Hamas militants and an Israeli soldier were killed in separate gunbattles yesterday. Israeli troops shot dead Ali Alian, the head of the Hamas military wing in the southern West Bank, near Bethlehem. The soldier, Ami Cohen (27), was killed after Alian opened fire at troops as they approached a home in a village in the Bethlehem area.
The army has accused Alian of involvement in a series of attacks, including a suicide bombing in Haifa in which 17 were killed.
Yesterday afternoon, troops shot dead another senior Hamas activist, Nasser Asida (27), who the army says was wanted in connection with attacks in which 25 Israelis were killed.