Palestinian lawmakers approve new Cabinet

10.00pm

RAMALLAH, West Bank - Palestinian lawmakers approved a new cabinet on Tuesday led by reformist Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas in a key step towards the introduction of a US-led plan for Middle East peacemaking.

The Palestinian Legislative Council endorsed Abbas' cabinet list by a vote of 51-18 with three abstentions at a special session in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Loud applause greeted the result of the historic vote.

Lawmakers kissed and congratulated Abbas, the first Palestinian prime minister, and he pronounced himself "very happy with this Palestinian democracy".

"I am happy with those who voted in favour and those who voted against. I hope my cabinet and I will not disappoint our people," said Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen.

The new cabinet, to be sworn in on Wednesday morning, is the product of intense international pressure on President Yasser Arafat to cede some of his powers and implement democratic reforms.

The ministers include both critics of Arafat and loyalists from within his mainstream Fatah faction. Abbas, a leading moderate and critic of Palestinian attacks on Israelis, signalled his intention on Tuesday to rein in militants.

The United States has said that after the cabinet is confirmed, it will release a Middle East "road map" aimed at ending two and a half years of Israeli-Palestinian violence and paving the way for an independent Palestinian state by 2005.

- REUTERS