Palestinian President Yasser Arafat is to appoint a prime minister at the urging of international peace brokers.
But Mr Arafat did not say who would take up the post nor when.
"In light of contact that we conducted with members of the Quartet . . . I decided to appoint a prime minister," Mr Arafat said today from his headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
The so-called Quartet, comprising the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia, has been urging Mr Arafat to make democratic reforms in his Palestinian Authority in order to create conditions necessary for a peace accord with Israel.
Mr Arafat said he would convene the Palestinian legislature and central council "to get their consent to take the necessary steps" to name a prime minister. He did not say when the two institutions would meet.
The Palestinian leader had resisted appointing a prime minister, with analysts suggesting he feared his power base could be weakened by such a move.
But Western diplomats said the Palestinian leader recently came under intense international pressure to appoint a credible prime minister in order to survive politically.
President Bush called in a Middle East policy speech last June for a new Palestinian leadership "not compromised by terror".