OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, 10 October 2003 — Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei yesterday threatened to resign after storming out of a meeting with President Yasser Arafat over the choice of his Cabinet.
A key aide to President Yasser Arafat played down the differences between the two men. “President Arafat continues to have confidence in Abu Alaa as well as his Cabinet,” Nabil Abu Rudeinah said, using Qorei’s nickname.
Mahmud Abbas, the first ever Palestinian prime minister, resigned Sept. 6, after failing to secure a broad enough support from the various Palestinian factions to carry out his task of restoring calm and taking steps toward peace.
Qorei and his eight-minister Cabinet were appointed Sunday after an emergency decree by Arafat that followed a Palestinian bombing in Haifa. He was officially sworn in by Arafat on Tuesday.
The new premier was due to present his government’s program yesterday but the acting Parliament speaker announced that the session had been delayed indefinitely.
The postponement came after a stormy meeting of the central committee of Arafat’s Fatah party attended by both Qorei and Arafat. During the meeting, Arafat contested Nasser Yussuf’s presence in the Cabinet as interior minister, after Yussuf refused Tuesday to take the oath with Qorei and the other ministers.
Arafat wanted approval of the emergency Cabinet, while Qorei, in the speech he was due to deliver during the postponed session, was to advocate a “normal limited Cabinet.”
“Abu Alaa stormed out of the meeting,” Fatah sources said.
MPs explained that the Parliament, which is dominated by Fatah, was divided over the need of a confidence vote, as well as the nature of the government to be approved.
Some MPs had argued that while Arafat had the right to declare a state of emergency, there was no prevision in the Palestinian constitution for an emergency Cabinet and that Qorei’s team would require parliamentary approval.
While the Palestinian Authority dealt with its new crisis, a Palestinian blew himself up at an Israeli Army checkpoint near Tulkarm.
Israeli military sources said the bomber was killed and three people were wounded.
