"I don't want to see assassinations and demolitions of houses,” said Qorei

ABU DIS, West Bank, September 8 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Ahmed Qorei, the man nominated by Yasser Arafat to become Palestinian prime minister, said Monday, September 8, he must have the support of Washington and the European Union before accepting the job, adding that Israel also must change its policy against the Palestinians.

"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," Qorei, the speaker of Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), was quoted by Agence France-Presse (AFP) as saying.

I am not prime minister as yet...I want to see the Americans -- what kind of guarantee...they will (give)," he told Reuters.

"I want to see Europe, what kind of guarantees and support...they will (give). I'm not ready to go for a failure. I want to see whether peace is possible or not," he said in English in his office in the West Bank village of Abu Dis near occupied Jerusalem.

"Without it I am not going to accept it for (the risk of) a new failure," he added.

The European Union, which helped draft the road map along with Russia and the United Nations, made clear it would accept Korei, Reuters said.

Qorei has already received a pledge of support from E.U. foreign policy chief Javier Solana, who described him as a "man of goodwill".

For his part, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Sunday, September 7, that Washington would "negotiate with the prime minister of the Palestinian people ... whoever that person is."

Powell said the new prime minister had to "make a solid commitment to follow the roadmap, go after ‘terrorism’ and stop these terrorist attacks, (otherwise) it's not clear that we'll be able to move forward," he said, referring to U.S.-backed roadmap peace plan.

Qorei also held a series of meetings with U.S. and European diplomats, including Russia's envoy to the Middle East, Andrei Vdovin, on Monday morning as well as the Egyptian consul general, Nader al-Asser.

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.

PLC sources said that he was expected to deliver a final answer to Arafat later Monday.

Israel Must ‘Change Policy’

Qorei also said he wanted to see a change of policy from Israel, which is currently engaged in an "all-out war" against resistance groups.

"I want to see what the Israelis will do," he said, adding "Israel must show its commitment to all signed agreements and change the situation on the ground for the Palestinians.

"I don't want to see assassinations and demolitions of houses. I want to see a real ceasefire. These are my conditions."

The temporary truce declared by Palestinian factions ended after Israeli occupation forces assassinated Hamas senior political official Ismail Abu Shanab on Thursday, August 21. Israel has killed several Palestinians and carried out 854 violations of the three-month truce, according to a human rights report.

At least twenty people were killed and more than 105 wounded in a huge bus bomb blast late Tuesday, August 19, in occupied Jerusalem. Hamas claimed responsibility for the blast in response to Israeli escalation of attacks against Palestinian-ruled areas and continued assassination and detention campaigns against Palestinian activists.

Israeli officials have not made any public reaction since it emerged Sunday that Qorei was likely to replace Abbas as premier.

But Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom was quoted by Israeli radio Monday as telling Powell in a phone call that nothing would change while Arafat "continues to pull the strings."

Qorei said Israel must alter its way of dealing with Arafat.

"The elected Israeli government must change its ways of dealing with the elected Palestinian president," he said.

Israel has refused to negotiate with Arafat, whom it accuses of trying to undermine the peace process and has effectively confined to his headquarters in the West Bank town of Ramallah for the past 20 months.

Shalom joined a growing chorus of calls from ministers for Arafat to be expelled, blaming him for the resignation of outgoing premier Mahmud Abbas.

"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.

Qorei was asked by Palestinian President Yasser Arafat late Sunday, September 8, to succeed Mahmud Abbas, who resigned as premier a day earlier.

The offer came after he received overwhelming backing from senior members of Arafat's mainstream Fatah movement and the Palestine Liberation Organization.

The scale of the challenge facing Qorei was underlined by the death of a Palestinian activist overnight, who was shot dead by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip.

The man had been wearing an Israeli army uniform and was aiming in the direction of soldiers, added the spokesman.

The shooting came hours after the latest Israeli air strike against the Islamic group Hamas in the Gaza Strip, which witnesses said left at least 10 people injured.