SUCCESSION RACE: The Palestinian Legislative Council convened briefly yesterday at noon to swear in its speaker, Mr Ruhi Fattouh, as interim president.
Under the Palestinian Authority's Basic Law, he will assume the mainly ceremonial duties of the presidency while preparations are made for elections which should be held within 60 days.
Deputies from the West Bank, a handful from Gaza, Cabinet ministers and Palestinian personalties filed into the small assembly chamber. Among the well-known figures were Mr Ahmad Korei, the Prime Minister, Dr Saeb Erekat, chief negotiator, and Mr Jibril Rahjoub, national security adviser and former West Bank security chief. The public gallery filled with diplomats, Christian and Muslim clerics and media.
A large picture of Mr Marwan Barghouti, the West Bank Fatah head now serving five life sentences in an Israeli prison, was propped up in his chair.
Gaza deputies who did not manage the difficult journey had gathered in their own chamber to participate by video link. Mr Selim Zanoun, speaker of the Palestinian National Council, the parliament in exile, took the chair beneath a smiling portrait of Mr Arafat. Mr Zanoun opened the meeting by calling upon all to rise and observe a minute's silence.
After Mr Fattouh swore on the Koran to uphold the constitution of the Palestinian National Authority and to faithfully carry out his responsibilities as president, there was a loud stamping and barracking from the back of the chamber. Mr Yasser Abed Rabbo, former information minister who was once a close confidant of Mr Arafat, was heard to say: "He is not the president, only the president of the Authority."
Dr Ziad Amer, a councillor from Gaza, said that Mr Fattouh "will not be taking any major decisions. He cannot wield the powers Mr Arafat held in his hands. From now on the Palestinians will depend on their institutions. There will be no more one-man rule."
Just two hours before Mr Fattouh was declared president of the Authority, Mr Mahmud Abbas, the former prime minister, was unanimously elected to succeed Mr Arafat as chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO).