PLO official to take over as PM

President Yasser Arafat has asked senior Palestine Liberation Organisation official Mahmoud Abbas to be the Palestinian Authority’s Prime minister, senior officials said on Thursday.

But Abbas said he was waiting to hear if he would be granted significant power as Prime Minister before deciding whether to accept the post. ‘‘The position is not as important as the powers of the PM ..I will respond positively or negatively after I know what powers the Prime Minister will have,’’ Abbas told Reuters.

While Abbas lacks Arafat’s charisma and high-media profile, he commands respect among Palestinian officials, Israel and the United States as the behind-the-scenes brains of the PLO. He has often been mentioned as a potential successor to Arafat.