Qrei agrees to assume the post of the Palestinian prime minister
Palestine, Politics, 9/9/2003

The Palestinian President Yasser Arafat announced the consent of Ahmad Qrei to assume the post of the prime minister of the Palestinian government. This came following Qrei's meeting with the Palestinian President in his office in Ramullah when a Palestinian official announced that Arafat notified the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization of Ahmad Qrei's consent on his assignment to form the new Palestinian government in succession of its resigned Prime minister Mahmoud Abbas.

In an exclusive statement to Al-Jazeera TV yesterday, the new Palestinian prime minister said he is waiting for concrete support from the Quartet committee which includes the US, the European Union, the UN and Russia.

He said that there is no use in forming a new Palestinian government if Israel does not stop the policy of assassination against the Palestinian resistance and lift sanctions imposed on the Palestinian President.

Qrei also asked Israel to make genuine changes on the ground, in order to alleviate the sufferings of the Palestinian people. He added "I want to see what the Israelis will do. I do not want to see houses demolished, rather a genuine truce." Qrei's acceptance of the post came after he had called for American and European guarantees to support the peace process to know if peace was possible or not, in order for his mission not to fail.

Qrei is considered one of the engineers of the Oslo agreements in addition to Mahmoud Abbas. He was born in Abu Deis, a Jerusalem outskirt. He was also elected as a parliamentarian for Jerusalem in 1996 in the first elections to be held in the Palestinian territories. Since then, he has presided over the Legislative Council.

On the other hand, the US and Israel have begun to the process of setting up Qrei, the new potential prime minister, for internal Palestinian conflict that in the past undermined Arafat, and later, Abbas, and now Qrei. An Israeli governmental source accompanying the Israeli prime minister in New Delhi announced that Israel will not support Ahmad Qrei unless he fights "terrorism." The source urged Qrei to dismantle the Palestinian resistance and launch a campaign of arrest targeting members and leaderships of the Islamic resistance movement Hamas.

Previous Stories:
  Fatah recommends Qrei as Palestinian prime minister   (9/8/2003)
  Failure of efforts to settle differences inside the Palestinian authority   (9/4/2003)
  Peace requires straight talk, and knowing the victim from the aggressor   (6/23/2003)

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