By Xinhua
Ramallah : A Fatah spokesman said Thursday Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was planning a reshuffle of the team that represents the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) in the political negotiations with Israel.`
Ahmed Qurea, a former prime minister and a member of Fatah central committee, will head the reshuffled delegation, which will comprise current chief negotiator Saeb Erekat and Yasser Abed Rabbo, a member of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation’s (PLO) executive committee, according to spokesman Ahmed Abdel Rahman.
“A committee will be formed to carry out an initial round of negotiations with Israel” in preparation of the US-sponsored peace conference this autumn, said Abdel Rahman.
“The formation of the new delegation is not a surprise and it aims at exploring the mutual stances between the Israeli and the Palestinian sides,” he added.
Abdel Rahman noted that it was necessary to hold the conference as planned in November, but expressed worries over laggard procedures leading up to the conference.
So far, the US had not invited any country to attend the meeting and the content of the conference was still vague, said the spokesman.
Abbas, who held several meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert recently, hopes to agree on a time-limited plan for an Israeli withdrawal from the occupied territories ahead of the scheduled conference.