Palestinian PM downplays quit threat
Ahmed Qurie has downplayed suggestions he is to imminently quit as Palestinian prime minister following heated exchanges with Yasser Arafat.
Mr Qurie was rumoured to be on the brink of resigning after another power-struggle over “security and financial reforms” with the veteran leader of the Palestinian Authority.
Mr Qurie’s cabinet approved new laws on Saturday allowing the Palestinian Authority to pay its 30,000 security forces directly into their bank accounts.
But Mr Arafat clashed with Mr Qurie over the issue and the chagrined Mr Arafat then refused to implement the cabinet decision
Mr Qurie’s predecessor Mahmoud Abbas resigned after Mr Arafat refused to budge on devolving security issues.
Then Mr Arafat said relinquishing his hold on security would splinter Palestinian groups.
This prevarication held up the roll out of the US-backed “road map” for peace in the Middle East, which, if implemented, would grant the establishment of a Palestinian state by 2005.
Speaking after a meeting with German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer in Berlin, he said: “Resigning? Why? I am here as the prime minister. I am not thinking about that.”
Mr Arafat – under house arrest in the West Bank city of Ramallah – is defiantly fighting his political ostracism. The US claims Mr Ararat was and is a fomenter of violence in the Middle East.
Separately, senior Israeli and Palestinian officials later this week will hold talks to pave the way for a meeting between Mr Qurie and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
