Quds city, Nov 20, SPA -- The Palestinian prime minister met with foreign diplomats Saturday including the U.S. envoy, a day after appealing to the United States to stick to its original deadline for Palestinian statehood. Saturday also marked the beginning of the Palestinian presidential elections; candidates now have 12 days to submit their nominations and the population will vote on who will replace late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on Jan. 9 next year. Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia met U.S. envoy David Pierce in east Al-Quds city as part of preparations for next week's visit by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell. Queria said he would seek assurances from Powell that the timetable U.S. President George W. Bush raised in the so-called "road map" peace plan will be honored. "As the president and secretary of state have said, we are ready to help the Palestinian people," Pierce told reporters after the meeting. Giving Israel more time would lead to more land grabs, Queria argued. "We'll tell him that the four years' time that was mentioned by President Bush to establish a Palestinian state will encourage the Israeli government to continue stealing our lands to build settlements and the wall," Qureia told a Palestinian journalist on Friday. "It is very dangerous." Powell and foreign ministers from Britain, Russia and other nations are traveling to the Middle East in hopes of restarting peace efforts amid a new spirit of optimism following the death of Arafat, the Palestinians' longtime leader. --MORE 1251 Local Time 0951 GMT
