Abbas's successor picked

2003-09-07 22:03

Ramallah, West Bank - Parliament speaker Ahmad Qorei was set to succeed Mahmud Abbas as Palestinian prime minister after winning the overwhelming backing Sunday of top officials and Yasser Arafat.

"President Arafat said that he will ask Abu Ala (Qorei) to form the new cabinet and the executive committee agreed," a member of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) said after a meeting here late on Sunday.

Asked when Qorei would officially be declared prime minister, Saleh al-Rafat told AFP: "Maybe tonight or tomorrow morning."

Qorei had earlier emerged as the likely successor to Abbas after he was the unanimous choice of delegates attending a Fatah central committee meeting also chaired by the Palestinian leader Arafat at his headquarters here.

"The candidature of Abu Ala (Qorei) was unanimously recommended," central committee member Abbas Zaki told AFP after the meeting.

Arafat himself proposed Qorei to succeed Abbas, who resigned on Saturday, and the committee members followed his advice, a senior Palestinian official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Sources within the Palestinian Legislative Council, or parliament, said that Qorei was mulling the prospect of becoming premier.

Difficult

"Abu Ala has neither accepted nor refused," said one.

Senior Palestinians had earlier said it was highly unlikely that Abbas could again work with Arafat, even though he did not rule out such an idea.

"It will be very difficult for Abu Mazen (Abbas) to come back," foreign minister Nabil Shaath told reporters. "He (Qorei) is a very strong candidate to be prime minister."

Abbas himself, who has been asked to head up a caretaker government for the next five weeks, remained equivocal about his intentions.

Asked by journalists if he would accept an offer to form a new government, Abbas said: "It is premature to say at this stage."

Among the first to react to the news, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana welcomed Qorei's expected nomination but warned that his task would be difficult.

"The decision of who is going to be the next prime minister is for the Palestinian people. But I hope that whoever is elected, and if it is Abu Ala (Qorei), he will be able to do a good job," Solana said in Amman after talks with Shaath and Jordanian Foreign Minister Marwan Moasher.

"The problem will not be solved in 24 hours by the nomination of a person even if he were Superman. The problem is complicated and it will require tremendous effort, perserverance and tenacity."

New cabinet

Shaath meanwhile told reporters Qorei's would pave the way for a new cabinet "very soon".

Arafat's decision to accept Abbas's resignation prompted Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom to renew calls Sunday for the veteran leader's expulsion from the West Bank.

"The expulsion of Arafat is, as I have already said, the inevitable result of what he has done to provoke the fall of Mahmud Abbas," Shalom told public radio.

Abbas' resignation was proof of Arafat's refusal "to allow any political process to develop", he added.

Shaath however warned that such a move would be "disastrous".

US Secretary of State Colin Powell also cautioned against such a move "at this time", adding that exile would only serve "to put him on the world stage as opposed to the stage he is currently occupying".

Abbas' resignation delivered another blow to the already foundering Middle East peace process. Talks between the two sides have been frozen since the August 19 suicide bus bombing by Hamas in Jerusalem which killed 21 passengers.

Assassination attempt

The Israeli military has carried out a series of attacks against Hamas targets since then, including an assassination attempt against the movement's spiritual leader, Sheikh Ahmad Yassin, on Saturday afternoon.

Israeli police were placed on a state of alert on Sunday amid fears of reprisal attacks by Hamas.

Police and security service reinforcements were deployed at "sensitive" points in Jerusalem, notably at bus stops, and boosted patrols and identity checks at entrances to main towns.

Former prime minister Shimon Peres criticised the attack on Yassin as a move which was likely to escalate the situation.

But current premier Ariel Sharon was quoted as saying that Hamas' leaders were "dead men" while a senior official said that Israel planned to wipe out Hamas entirely.

"We intend to liquidate all of Hamas, without any distinction between the political and military branches of this terrorist organisation," the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Yassin said on Sunday that Hamas would teach Israel "an unforgettable lesson" as hundreds of supporters gathered outside his home here to congratulate him on surviving Saturday's air strike.

- AFP