Mahmoud Abbas, a Palestinian moderate, on Wednesday accepted his appointment by Yasser Arafat as the Palestinians' first prime minister to carry out key reforms, a senior aide to Arafat said. "Brother Abu Mazen has officially accepted Arafat's appointment to become prime minister," Nabil Abu Rdainah told Reuters in the West Bank city of Ramallah, using Abbas's nom de guerre. Abbas could not be immediately reached for comment.

The Palestinian parliament ratified the post of prime minister on Tuesday and gave it powers beyond that sought by Arafat, under intense pressure from international mediators to permit reforms to help revive peace talks with Israel.

The vote eroded Arafat's political dominance nearly 30 months after the start of a Palestinian uprising for statehood by stripping him of powers to approve cabinet members.

But the bill, which Arafat later signed into law, left him in charge of security and peacemaking in the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and preserved his power to dismiss the prime minister.

Abbas will take over the day-to-day running of the Palestinian Authority with a mandate to purge corruption, help rein in militants and foster a return to peacemaking.

He had held off confirming he would accept the job until he was sure he would have solid powers.

Despite reservations voiced in Washington over the division of authority, it appeared the move toward reform demanded by a U.S.-led "Quartet" of international peace brokers met President Bush's condition for unveiling a peace "road map."

Abbas is an architect of 1993 interim peace deals with Israel. He has said that militant violence since statehood talks with Israel stalled in mid-2000 have set back Palestinians' quest for independence in the West Bank and Gaza.

PHOTO CAPTION

In this Saturday March 8, 2003 photo, Palestinian Mahmoud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, waves during the PLO's Central Council session to approve the idea of creating the position of a prime minister in the West Bank town of Ramallah. P Photo/Nasser Nasser)
- Mar 18 2:19 PM ET