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Qurei Accepts Post of PM

(Jerusalem Post) Khaled Abu Toameh and Janine Zacharia - On Wednesday, Ahmed Qurei met with Arafat and told him he had accepted the offer to serve as prime minister. Asked if he had relinquished his demand for U.S. and European guarantees of support as a prerequisite for taking the job, Qurei said he waived the conditions and accepted the job. Qurei said he would form an "emergency cabinet" of only six ministers (in addition to the prime minister), and he told Al-Jazeera that he intended to establish a "national security council" to oversee the PA security forces. According to well-informed sources in Ramallah, Minister of Security Muhammad Dahlan is expected to retain his post in the new cabinet, in addition to the newly created portfolio of deputy prime minister. Gen. Nasser Youssef, a former security chief and Arafat loyalist, has been offered the post of interior minister in charge of the security forces. Nabil Shaath, another Arafat loyalist, will retain his job as foreign minister. Meanwhile, many Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip "celebrated" Tuesday's suicide attacks and called on Hamas to step up its terror campaign. In the streets of Gaza City, Palestinians handed out candies as a sign of rejoicing, as preachers in mosques praised the bombers through loudspeakers and urged young Palestinians to follow suit.
2003-09-11 00:00:00
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