Qrei returns back to the idea of mini government: 10 to 12 ministers including the 'basics'

A high ranking Palestinian official announced that the designated Palestinian prime minister Ahmad Qrei changed his mind over forming a plenary government and intends to introduce a small formation, whose members not to exceed 12 ministers by the fall of the end of the current week.

The official said that the Palestinian President Yasser Arafat on Monday evening agreed to the proposal made by the designated prime minister to form a mini Palestinian government composed of 10 to 12 ministers instead of a plenary government.

According to this official who is close to Arafat, certain ministers will stay in their posts. They are foreign affairs minister Nabil Shaath, the finance minister Salam Fayyad, and the minister of education Naem Abu al-Hommos, noting that the ministry of the interior will be most expectedly given to Lt. Gen. Nasser Youssef.

In the beginning Qrei was thinking of forming a government composed of 24 ministers. On Saturday he got the consent of the central committee of the Fatah movement. The Palestinian al-Ayam daily expected "the total number of 12 ministers who assume main ministerial posts together with supervising secondary posts."