U.S. has no right to decide on leadership

No other person or nation - including the U.S. - has the right to decide who should lead the Palestinian people. It should be left to them to so decide, said the highest ranking non-UAE Arab official to be in Dubai yesterday.

"It is a very difficult situation. Ultimately, we aspire to have a Palestinian state - not in any way "provisional" - but an established Palestinian state, and as fast as possible and in the best way possible," Dr. Fawaz Al Zu'bi, Jordanian Minister for Information and Communi-cation Technology, told Gulf News.

"I think it is only the Palestinians who have the right to decide who is to lead them in that process," the minister said in response to American President George Bush's statement that Palestinians should sideline Yasser Arafat.

"There is a very strong relationship between Jordan and Palestine - and that is not going to go away. The country (Palestine) is in ruins. It needs rebuilding," Al Zu'bi said.