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Crisis deepens over Palestinian Cabinet

JERUSALEM APRIL 21. The Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, and his Prime Minister-designate, Mahmoud Abbas, remained at loggerheads over the composition of the Cabinet on Monday, after prolonged negotiations failed to produce a compromise.

The crisis — described as the most severe ever between the two — threatens to torpedo a U.S.-backed "road map" to full Palestinian statehood within three years.

International mediators exerted intense pressure on Arafat in recent days, not to undercut Mr. Abbas.

Mr. Abbas, who must win Parliamentary approval for his Cabinet by Wednesday, has threatened to resign if his team is not accepted.

The U.S., in turn, has said it will only present the peace plan once Mr. Abbas and his Cabinet have been installed.

The main dispute was over the appointment of Mohammed Dahlan, a former security chief in Gaza.

AP

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