Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), Rawhi Fatouh, was sworn in as temporary president of the Palestinian National Authority at a special PLC session, chaired by First Deputy PLC Speaker Hassan Khreisha in the presence of the new president of the PLO's Executive Council Mahmoud Abbas.
Fatouh pledged in his first speech to MPs that elections would be held within the two-month timeframe. "I promise to hold the elections within the time period as called for by the basic law." According to AFP, he also praised Arafat as the "father of Palestinian nationalism -- the first fighter and a great martyr."
Abbas was chosen for this post Thursday after the announcement of the death of Palestinian President, Yasser Arafat.
Meanwhile, Farouk Kaddoumi was named as the new leader of Fatah movement. He said on Thursday he was open to peace talks with Israel but also ready to pursue armed struggle if they failed. "Resistance is the path to arriving at a political settlement," Kaddoumi told Hizbullah's al-Manar TV station.
"We are not saying we are capable of defeating the Israeli army. But this policy was set out by the PLO when the martyr, our brother Abu Ammar (Arafat), stood before the United Nations in 1974 and said 'I hold a rifle in one hand and an olive branch in the other. Don't knock the olive branch from my hand'..." (albawaba.com)
