DATE=10/6/2003

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=PALESTINIAN/POLITICS (S)

NUMBER=2-308296

BYLINE=ROSS DUNN

DATELINE=JERUSALEM

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: Palestinian President Yasser Arafat has installed a new prime minister and cabinet by decree and declared a state of emergency in the Palestinian territories. The move is seen by some observers as an attempt to stop Israel from sending Mr. Arafat into exile, following a Palestinian suicide bombing that killed at least 19 people. Ross Dunn reports from Jerusalem.

TEXT: Mr. Arafat has unilaterally declared a new government for the Palestinian people. The government includes eight ministers headed by a new prime minister, Ahmed Qureia.

Mr. Qureia replaces Mahmoud Abbas, who resigned last month after losing a power struggle with Mr. Arafat over control of the Palestinian security forces.

By installing a new government, observers say, Mr. Arafat is making it difficult for Israel to expel him from the area.

Israel's cabinet announced last month that it would remove Mr. Arafat at a time of its choosing, declaring that the Palestinian president had been orchestrating much of the recent violence.

The Palestinian leadership feared that Israel would move against Mr. Arafat after a Palestinian woman suicide bomber blew up a Haifa restaurant on Saturday, killing 19 people, including four children, one of them a baby girl. (Signed)

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