Israeli military operation foiled initative to appoint Abu Mazen as PM by Akiva Eldar, Ha'aretz 10:50am Sun Sep 22 '02 The IDF operation in the Muqata, the compound of Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat in the West Bank city of Ramallah, prevented the convening of a special meeting of the Fatah Central Committee, which had planned to use the meeting to persuade Arafat to lift his objection to the appointment of a prime minister, and give the role to his deputy Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen). print article Israeli military operation foiled initative to appoint Abu Mazen as PM By Akiva Eldar, Ha'aretz Correspondent The IDF operation in the Muqata, the compound of Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat in the West Bank city of Ramallah, prevented the convening of a special meeting of the Fatah Central Committee, which had planned to use the meeting to persuade Arafat to lift his objection to the appointment of a prime minister, and give the role to his deputy Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen). The meeting's agenda included a discussion on the makeup of the new Palestinian Cabinet, in order to present it at the next Palestinian Legislative Council session. The Fatah Central Committee, which was due to hold discussions on Saturday, was also due to make decisions regarding PA reforms and ways of enforcing the Fatah decision to stop terror attacks against Israeli civilians on the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades group. Diplomatic sources said the details of the planned meeting were known to the senior political and military echelons in Israel, because they were asked to authorize the arrival of committee members who live outside of Ramallah. Israel received a list of committee members who were to arrive at the meeting, including Abu Mazen, parliament speaker Ahmed Qureia (Abu Ala), Palestine National Council (PNC) speaker Salim Za'anoun, and head of Fatah's Tanzim forces Hani al-Hassan Hani, who is holed up in the Muqata, all of them from the West Bank, as well as Umm Jihad (from Gaza), Abu Maher Ganem and Mohammed Abu Jihad (both from Jordan). Israeli Cabinet ministers who attended the special session on Thursday, in which the IDF operation in the Muqata was approved, said they had not been told about the planned meeting. East Jerusalem newspapers reported that Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moller, whose country currently holds the rotating presidency of the EU, told Foreign Minister Shimon Peres in a phone conversation Saturday, that the IDF attack prevented the appointment of a Palestinian prime minister. www.haaretz.co.il add your comments