How Yasser Arafat would be replaced:
Arafat is head of the Palestinian Authority, the Palestinian governing body in the West Bank and Gaza, the broader Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), which is responsible for peace talks with Israel, and the mainstream Palestinian nationalist movement Fatah.
If he dies, the speaker of parliament would oversee a caretaker Palestinian Authority for 60 days, by which point presidential elections should be held. The current speaker is Rawhi Fattouh.
Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie would be expected to run the day-to-day affairs of the authority, which was established under interim peace accords with Israel a decade ago.
Former prime minister Mahmoud Abbas has been running the PLO, where he is Arafat's number two, in the Palestinian leader's absence and would continue in that provisional capacity, pending an internal election. The PLO represents Palestinians at home and worldwide.
Abbas has also taken provisional charge of Fatah's central committee. Elections to the key executive body were last held in 1989 and a fresh vote has been repeatedly put off. - (Reuters)
