Prometheus 6

Quote of note:

"The issue is not only the names of the people," Mustafa Barghouti, a doctor and opposition activist who was a distant second to Mr. Abbas in the Palestinian election for president last month, said of the list. "It will depend on the program. What worries me most is that we haven't seen true progress on any reform. This is about a corrupt system where favoritism prevails. This kind of political nepotism is totally unacceptable," he said.

Palestinian Agrees to Reshape Cabinet With New Faces

By ALAN COWELL

JERUSALEM, Feb. 22 - Under pressure from legislators, the Palestinian prime minister, Ahmed Qurei, pledged Tuesday to reshape his cabinet, bringing in some nonpolitical figures after lawmakers challenged his previous team of loyalists from the Yasir Arafat era.

The choice of a new cabinet with fewer ties to the past could help Mahmoud Abbas, the newly elected Palestinian president, embark on reforms sought by many Palestinians - as well as the governments of Israel and the United States - after the newest truce in more than four years of Palestinian uprising.

Mr. Qurei said he would present his new list to the Palestinian parliament for approval on Wednesday, but he did not give details of names or policies. A previous list composed mostly of old-guard loyalists drew threats of a no-confidence vote from legislators possibly positioning themselves for parliamentary elections in July.

He said that "we have agreed that the next government will be from outside" the parliament. The 84-member legislature is known as the Palestine Legislative Council and is dominated by the Fatah movement led by Mr. Abbas.

Some legislators said Mr. Qurei's maneuver represented what Rafik Natshe, a Fatah member and former cabinet minister, called "a real change."

Ahmed al-Batsh, another Fatah legislator, said: "This is real democracy. This is the first time we succeeded in expressing the ambitions of the Palestinian people in changing a government that has no confidence in the street."