Palestinian PM Nominee Asks U.S., Israeli Assurances

Reuters ^ | Sept. 8, 2003 | Matt Spetalnick

[Alouette]

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Ahmed Korei, Yasser Arafat's nominee for Palestinian prime minister, said on Monday he would accept the post only with U.S. and European guarantees of support and Israel's commitment to ease its military crackdown.

Arafat chose Korei, the parliamentary speaker, to replace Mahmoud Abbas, who resigned on Saturday complaining that the Palestinian president and Israel had obstructed his peace efforts and the United States had not given him enough backing.

Korei's credentials as a highly regarded moderate and an architect of the 1993 interim Oslo peace accords with Israel could endear him to the United States and could raise hopes of salvaging a battered U.S.-led peace plan.

Israel has ruled out talks with any new leadership controlled or hand-picked by Arafat.

There was no immediate reaction from Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who left on a four-day visit to India. Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said the government would withhold comment until the Palestinian parliament has its final say in the matter.

Health Minister Danny Naveh, who like Shalom belongs to Sharon's rightist Likud party, said Korei's appointment would not bring a resumption of dialogue because "the man who is pulling the strings and controlling everything is one person, and it's Yasser Arafat."

Recognizing the difficulties he faces, Korei -- a veteran politician but one with little grass-roots support among Palestinians -- set strict conditions for accepting the job.

"I want to see the Americans -- what kind of guarantee...they will (give)," he told Reuters at his West Bank office. "I want to see Europe, what kind of guarantees and support...they will (give). I'm not ready to go for a failure."

In Brussels, a spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said Korei was highly respected by the bloc and "will get all support from the European Union."

Korei told CNN he also wanted a commitment from Israel to curb its military operations in Palestinian areas and stop isolating Arafat and called for an end to killings on both sides.

"I don't want to see more military checkpoints, I don't want to see assassination of Palestinians, I don't want to see demolishing houses," Korei said.

MISSILE STRIKES

Israel has intensified its air strikes against the militant group Hamas, especially targeting its leadership, since a suicide bomber killed 22 people on a Jerusalem bus on August 19.

In the latest Israeli air raid, on Sunday night, helicopter gunships hit the home of a member of Hamas's military wing, wounding 15 people. The army said it was used as a weapons arsenal and ammunition and explosives blew up when missiles hit.

Early on Monday, Israeli troops killed a gunman in an exchange of fire near a border crossing in the northern Gaza Strip, the army said. Palestinians identified him as a member of a militant group linked to Arafat's Fatah faction.

Arafat's nomination of Korei, approved on Sunday by the PLO's Executive Committee, came amid a deep political crisis.

Israeli officials said Abbas's decision to quit was a blow to peace hopes and renewed calls for Arafat's expulsion. Arafat had appointed Abbas in April under intense U.S. pressure.

The nomination of Korei, 65, could ease weeks of political confusion in the Palestinian Authority, which has heightened concern that the U.S.-led "road map" leading to peace and a Palestinian state by 2005 may now be beyond saving.

The United States, the key Middle East peacebroker, is eager to see a strong prime minister running the Palestinian Authority and controlling its security forces in place of Arafat, whom Washington accuses of fomenting violence. Arafat denies this.

White House national security adviser Condoleezza Rice said Arafat had hindered Abbas in his efforts to control the security forces. She urged the Palestinian Authority to "get an empowered prime minister and let him work."

[Alouette]

the U.S.-led "road map" leading to peace and a Palestinian state by 2005 may now be beyond saving.

Well DUH! Even Reuters "gets it."

[Alouette]

FREEPmail me to be added or removed from this Mideast ping list.

[savedbygrace]

Korei's credentials as a highly regarded moderate

Reuters-speak for radical terrorist supporter.

[goldstategop]

Al Korei's conditions are laughable. He is just a smooth face for Arafart's extremism.

[goldstategop]

Yep. And Hamas' terrorists are only "militants." That's the extent to which our understanding of terrorism has been cheapened and debased by the media.

[chuckr]

when will the Palestinian leaders "get it"? They can't go cry to the UN and at the same time turn terrorists loose on the world....they are to be held responsibile and if there is no direct action against the terrorists then they and their "country" will suffer the consequences.....it is just that easy! WAR has been declared and WAR is what the arab terrorists will bring on the very countries that harbor them....

[Alouette]

when will the Palestinian leaders "get it"? They can't go cry to the UN and at the same time turn terrorists loose on the world....

Apparently they do "get it" because they know that the UN and the Eurotrash Union always listen when they blow up a bus full of babies and then whine "The Israelis made me do it!"

[RoughDobermann]

In Brussels, a spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said Korei was highly respected by the bloc and "will get all support from the European Union."

If the EU is backing this guy, he can't be good for Israel.

"I don't want to see more military checkpoints, I don't want to see assassination of Palestinians, I don't want to see demolishing houses," Korei said.

I think he left out: "I don't want to see any more Johnny Jihad's blowing themselves up on Israeli buses, along with Israeli women and children."

[montag813]

Ahmed Korei, Yasser Arafat's nominee for Palestinian prime minister, said on Monday he would accept the post only with U.S. and European guarantees of support and Israel's commitment to ease its military crackdown.

What the hell do we care if he takes the post? He's not even PM yet and he is already issuing threats? How typical of the Arabs.

[ArGee]

Ahmed Korei, Yasser Arafat's nominee for Palestinian prime minister, said on Monday he would accept the post only with U.S. and European guarantees of support and Israel's commitment to ease its military crackdown.

What guarantees will Ahmed offer? If he offers none, why should any be offered him?

Anyway, if he doesn't want to be set up for failure, he should be asking for guarantees from Hamas, not Europe and Israel.

Shalom.

[Lijahsbubbe]

Apparently they do "get it" because they know that the UN and the Eurotrash Union always listen

And not only that, but they will get their demands, as if they are bargaining from a position with leverage.

It should be the other way around. The US and Israel should demand that Korei or anyone else aspiring to be leader round up the terrorists (okay we know that empties out the West Bank and Gaza) and deliver. Instead it's the opposite.

It's like two guys fighting and the one getting his ass kicked says, "wait a minute, I'll let you stop kicking my ass if you let me kick yours first."

[thoughtomator]

A guarantee from Hamas trades one-for-one with a guarantee from Kim Jong-Il.

[af_vet_1981]

He's not even PM yet and he is already issuing threats? How typical of the Arabs.

Someone understands.

[adam_az]

No wonder the EU likes him...

http://www.zoa.org/pressrel/20020211a.htm

2. AHMED QUREI, 63, is Speaker of Arafat's Palestinian Legislative Council. He has not publicly criticized the PA's 17-month long terrorist war against Israel.

Threatening mass violence against Israel: Qurei, in an interview with the Tunisian newspaper Al Sabach (quoted in Ha'aretz, Dec. 6, 1996) said: "If Israel does not honor the agreements, the Palestinians will also ask for Haifa, Jaffa, and Safed [cities within Israel's pre-1967 borders]...The response to the continuation of the occupation will be more dangerous than the intifada...the arms available...and the organizing is better than in the past...The alternative to peace will be bad for the Israelis, something which they do not want. The Palestinian people will oppose the occupation, from children to adults, including the Palestinian police. The Israelis must know that the Palestinians have many options and choices."

Israeli flag-burning demonstration: "Qurei walked over a freshly burned Israeli flag during a protest in Ramallah [on July 12, 1997]...A TV camera caught Palestinian protesters burning an Israeli flag as leading Palestinian Authority and PLO officials watched. Witnesses said Qurei smiled as he watched two Palestinian men burn the flag and then stepped over its charred remains. [Cabinet Secretary Danny] Naveh called the act 'disgraceful' and said it angered all Israelis and Jews." (Jerusalem Post, July 13, 1997)

Lied about Arafat's anti-Israel speeches: When asked in 1995 about Arafat's many anti-Israel speeches, Qurei replied that Arafat "never made any such speeches." (Moment, August 1995)

Balfour Declaration "a mistake": In November 2002, during a visit to the region by British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Qurei said he hoped Blair would take steps to "correct the historic mistake that Britain committed against Palestinians through the Balfour Declaration in 1917." (Jerusalem Post, Dec. 14, 2001) [The Balfour Declaration was Britain's pledge to help create a Jewish National Home in the Land of Israel.
Calling it a "mistake" is tantamount to saying that the creation of the State of Israel was a mistake.]

[yonif]

Korei's credentials as a highly regarded moderate

Right. Just like Abbas/Mazen was considered a moderate even though he "only" denies the holocaust, financed the 1972 Munich Olympics Massacre, and co-founded the terror organization.

This "new" guy chosen by Arafat is the head also believes in the destruction of Israel and he has already gone on record in 1997 saying that all of Jerusalem belongs to "Palestine" and supports terrorism.

After all, he is the speaker for the committee for this organization - Palestinian Liberation Organization (can you spot Israel?)

[yonif]

bttt

[yonif]

notice this

Palestinian people will oppose the occupation, from children to adults, including the Palestinian police

Palestinian police engaging in terrorism? That's impossible, because we are funding them with $200M.

[adam_az]

Yup.

Send them all back to Tunisia... this time, in boxes.

The only road map I want to see at this point is to where these terrorists are planted 6' under.

[Beck_isright]

Hopefully the response is GPS....




(Go Pound Sand)

[anotherview]

Israel and Europe can't guarantee anything regarding Israel's actions. The E.U. is seen as having a hopelessly pro-Palestinian bias. The U.S. has influence, but in the end Prime Minister Sharon will do what is in Israel's best interest, with or without U.S. approval. Prime Minister Shamir ended up at odds with the first President Bush. I hope Prime Minister Sharon won't be forced into the same position.

How about this: Ahmed Qurei guarantees that the Palestinians comply with their commitments under the Road Map to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure and disare Hamas, Islamic Jihad, etc.. and then Israel is pressured to comply with the Road Map? Do you think Mr. Qurei would agree to that? I don't think so either.