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Fatah lawmakers finally gave a green light Wednesday night to Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei's new cabinet lineup after a three-day delay of a vote, said official Palestinian sources.
The agreement was reached during a closed-door meeting of Fatah lawmakers, dominant in the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC),and Qurei as well as leader Mahmoud Abbas.
At the session, Abbas urged Fatah members to support Qurei's cabinet list, saying "the world is watching us."
Fatah lawmaker Mohammed Horani told reporters that the struggle concerning the forming of the new cabinet "appears to be over." "We have agreed in principle with Abu Mazen (Abbas) to let this crisis pass," he said.
The PLC has delayed the vote of confidence for three days due to heated disputes over the cabinet makeup lacking new faces. Under mounting pressures, Qurei has promised to reshuffle the cabinet with more reform-minded and technocrat ministers in response to lawmakers' demand to get rid of corruption-tainted image of the old government.
The PLC will meet Saturday to approve the new cabinet, said PLC Secretary General Ahmed Abul Nasr.
Fatah's nod to Qurei's cabinet will end disputes that threaten to bring about Qurei's resignation and endanger Abbas' efforts to reform the Palestinian National Authority and pursue peace talks with Israel, said analysts.
Fatah is highly represented in the parliament, currently holding63 seats out of 83 in total.
(Xinhua News Agency February 24, 2005)
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