GAZA CITY (AFP) - The new Palestinian leadership said it was to host outgoing US Secretary of State Colin Powell next week as it grappled to prevent security from unravelling amid the battle to succeed Yasser Arafat.
The Palestinian announcement of Powell's impending arrival comes just days after US President George W. Bush said Arafat's death had provided an opportunity to open a new chapter in the peace process.
It also coincided with the announcement that Powell, who had differences with hawkish members of Bush's administration over Iraq, had resigned but would stay on until a replacement was found.
"People outside are concerned about us. Colin Powell is coming, he is going to meet with all the leaders," Palestinian foreign minister Nabil Shaath told AFP, saying the secretary of state was expected to arrive on November 23.
Powell declined to confirm that he would be travelling to the Palestinian territories, but said he intends to hold talks with concerned parties outside a conference on Iraq to be held next week in Egypt.
He said the United States was "pleased by the responsible manner (in) which Palestinian leaders have started to come together and we are pleased that they have set a date for an election for the new president of the Palestinian Authority."
But he made it clear President George W. Bush would plunge back into the peace process only when "the conditions are right, when the Palestinian leadership is in place and when they have made clear what their commitments are and have started to act on those commitments."
The Bush administration, which called Arafat a terrorist and shunned him for four years, has said it would work with a new Palestinian leadership ready to renounce anti-Israeli attacks and crack down on militants.
Officials in London meanwhile also announced that British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw was to visit the region as soon as possible.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Bush last week poured over prospects for a renewed quest for Middle East peace.
New PLO chairman Mahmud Abbas, seen as a relative moderate by the United States, was on Monday locked in talks with security service and faction leaders one day after emerging unscathed from a shootout in a Gaza City mourning tent.
The 69-year-old Palestine Liberation Organisation chairman is in pole position to win an election slated for January 9 to succeed Arafat as president of the Palestinian Authority, although he lacks broad popular support.
There have been fears that Arafat's passing could unleash a wave of violence, especially in the Gaza Strip -- the scene of several deadly clashes between security services and armed factions in recent months.
Officials have denied that the Sunday evening shoot-out, in which two security men were killed, was an assassination attempt, but it underlined fears that Arafat's death could trigger an upsurge in lawlessness.
Former Palestinian security minister Mohammed Dahlan told Al-Arabiya television that a "gang of mercenaries" known to police, and not Abbas enemies, were responsible.
The shooting was condemned by Hamas and fellow Palestinian militant groups and Islamic Jihad whose leaders were all due to meet Abbas on Monday.
Abbas resigned 14 months ago as prime minister when Arafat refused to grant him greater control of the sprawling security apparatus. He also failed last year to persuade Hamas to implement a disarmament programme.
Although Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon boycotted Arafat, both men played host to Abbas during negotiations last year, before the peace process effectively stalled after his resignation.
Looking ahead to the election, negotiations minister Saeb Erakat said it would be crucial in avoiding "violence and anarchy" after urging Bush to stand "should to shoulder" with the Palestinians in order to make the vote work.
Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, who was himself in Washington, pledged to help the Palestinians with the election but expressed doubt about voting in East Jerusalem.
"We would like to enable the Palestinians to have a free and fair election," Shalom said. "Everything that is needed will be given to them in order to ensure that they will have the possibility to elect their new leadership."
But he voiced doubt some 200,000 Palestinians in East Jerusalem would be able to vote there in January's ballot since Israel considers the city its undivided capital and "we of course will do everything to keep it this way."
He said he expected residents of East Jerusalem would have to use postal ballots as they did in the 1996 election.
Shaath confirmed that the dominant Fatah faction had reached a consensus that Abbas should be its candidate in the January 9 elections but said there would no immediate official announcement.
The radical Palestinian faction Islamic Jihad said Monday it would boycott January's election and that it was focused on resistance to Israel.

11/15/2004 - 22:49 GMT - AFP