I will not be sidelined, vows Arafat

YASSER ARAFAT insisted yesterday he would not be sidelined by a Palestinian political shake-up and said his old nemesis, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, was not ready to pay the price for peace.

On the eve of a landmark vote by the Palestinian parliament on incoming prime minister Mahmoud Abbas and his cabinet, the Palestinian president told the Israeli newspaper Maariv he had no intention of fading away.

"I am the elected president of the Palestinian people...the whole world knows this," Mr Arafat was quoted as saying.