RAMALLAH, 9 September 2003 — Yasser Arafat’s nominee for prime minister, Ahmed Qorei, said yesterday that he would accept the job only with US and European guarantees of support and Israel’s commitment to halt its military crackdown. “I’ve been nominated but have not accepted yet because before that I want to see what kind of support I will receive from the Americans and the Europeans to change things on the ground for the Palestinians,” he told reporters in the West Bank city of Ramallah. “Without it I am not going to accept it for (the risk of) a new failure,” he added.
After meeting with Qorei, Arafat told leaders of his Fatah Party and other factions that Qorei had accepted the nomination, said an official who was present at the meeting and spoke on condition of anonymity. But Qorei said he had not given his final answer. “I’m still studying the issue,” he said.
Israel immediately rejected Qorei’s demand. A senior Israeli official traveling with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said in New Delhi that Israel would keep up assassination of Palestinians until the Palestinian Authority takes action against militants.
“Targeted interception is a continuous policy but if at any time there will be a Palestinian leader who says he will take on this problem we will consider stopping it,” the official said. “But right now there is no other choice.”
“If Hamas wants to continue and survive as an organization, they have to change their policy,” the Israeli official said. “The Palestinian government should tell Hamas: ‘You are better off in our prisons than being targeted by Israeli helicopters and ships.”
The White House expressed no specific preference as to who should be the Palestinian prime minister, but said that the post must have extensive powers to quell anti-Israel attacks.
“That office needs to be empowered, it needs to have the authority to crack down on terrorism. That means it needs to have all of the security forces under the control of the prime minister,” said spokesman Scott McClellan.
Asked whether the United States backed Qorei getting the job, McClellan repeatedly called the selection of a successor to Mahmoud Abbas “an internal matter.”
“Our focus remains on working with the parties to, first and foremost, crack down on terrorism, dismantle the terrorist organizations. That’s the way forward,” McClellan told reporters.
Arafat chose Qorei to replace Mahmoud Abbas, who resigned Saturday saying the Palestinian president and Israel had obstructed his peace efforts and the United States had not given him enough backing.
In Brussels, a spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said Qorei was highly respected by the bloc and “will get all support from the European Union.”
Qorei told CNN he wanted a commitment from Israel to curb military operations in Palestinian areas and stop isolating Arafat.
