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Ahmed Qurei
Qurei (right) with Colin Powell, 2004
Prime Minister of the Palestinian National Authority
In office 24 December 2005 – 29 March 2006
President	Mahmoud Abbas
Preceded by	Nabil Shaath (acting)
Succeeded by	Ismail Haniyeh
In office 7 October 2003 – 18 January 2005
President	Yasser Arafat Mahmoud Abbas
Preceded by	Mahmoud Abbas
Succeeded by	Nabil Shaath (acting)
Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council
In office 7 March 1996 – 7 October 2003
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Rafiq Al-Natsheh
Personal details
Born	(1937-03-26)26 March 1937 Abu Dis, Mandatory Palestine
Died	22 February 2023(2023-02-22) (aged 85)
Political party	Fatah

Ahmed Ali Mohammed Qurei (or Qureia; Template:Lang-ar, Aḥmad ʿAlī Muḥammad Qurayʿ; 26 March 1937 – 22 February 2023), also known by his Arabic name kunya Abu Alaa (أبو علاء Abū ʿAláʾ), was a Prime Minister of the Palestinian National Authority.

First appointed to the position in October 2003, he tendered his resignation on 26 January 2006, following the defeat of the Fatah party in the 2006 Palestinian legislative election, and remained in office in a caretaker capacity until 19 February when he was succeeded by Ismail Haniyeh. During his tenure as prime minister, he also had responsibility for security matters. He previously served as speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) and held a variety of significant positions within the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) from the 1970s on.

Early political career

Qurei was born in Abu Dis (near Jerusalem), Mandatory Palestine, in 1937. He joined the Fatah faction, the largest of the political and military organizations making up the Palestine Liberation Organization, in 1968. As a banker, he used his expertise during the 1970s as the director of the PLO's foreign investment branch and director-general of the PLO's economic branch, helping to make the organization one of the largest employers in Lebanon. He followed Yasser Arafat to Tunis after the PLO was forced to leave Lebanon. As more senior leaders died, Qurei rose to prominence and was elected to the Fatah Central Committee in August 1989.

As a member of the Central Committee, Qurei was instrumental in negotiating the Oslo Accords (1993). He also founded and became director of the Palestinian Economic Council for Development and Reconstruction (PECDAR) in 1993 in order to help garner money from international donors. He held various posts in the first Palestinian Authority cabinets including Minister of Economy & Trade and Minister of Industry. He was also responsible for a development plan for the Palestinian territories submitted to the World Bank in 1993.

Qurei was elected as the Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council on 7 March 1996 in Gaza.

Later, he took part in the 2000 Camp David Summit with Ehud Barak. Soon after, he was reelected to the PLC as a speaker in March 2001.

Prime Minister

After the resignation of Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas on 6 September 2003, Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat nominated Qurei for the post of prime minister. Qurei accepted the nomination for the post in an "emergency government" on 10 September. The next day, the Israeli government, apparently in response to bombings two days earlier, released a statement, announcing the decision that President Arafat would be "removed." Qurei decided upon that to form a full government rather than a trimmed one.

On 5 October 2003, Qurei was appointed prime minister by presidential decree, and an eight-member emergency government was sworn in on 7 October. However, Qurei could not form a new cabinet because of a dispute with Arafat which lasted for 10 weeks over the choice of an interior minister and control of the Palestinian Security Services, and he threatened to resign. While the Fatah Central Committee had agreed to the emergency cabinet with Qurei as caretaker prime minister, the Fatah-dominated PLC refused to hold a vote of confidence. The emergency cabinet's term expired on 4 November and Qurei declared that he was willing to lead a new cabinet provided the support of the parliament could be obtained. On 12 November, the PLC approved a 24-member government. He said he would only accept the position if he had guarantees that Israel would comply with its obligations under the Road map for Peace plan. Israel's non-compliance and the United States not having done enough to enforce Israeli compliance with the peace plan, along with a lack of internal support, had been reasons for Abbas' earlier resignation.

On 17 July 2004, he submitted his resignation amid growing chaos in the Gaza Strip. Offices of the Palestinian authority in Gaza were burned down, and gunmen briefly abducted 4 French aid workers, the police chief and another official, demanding reforms. Arafat refused to accept Qurei's resignation. Arafat and Qurei disputed on Qurei's demand for more authority to restructure the security forces to reduce the growing turmoil. President Arafat decreed a State of Emergency in Gaza. On 27 July Arafat and Qurei held a press conference after reaching a settlement in a cabinet meeting. Qurei had retracted his resignation.

After Arafat's death and Mahmoud Abbas' subsequent victory in the Palestinian presidential election of 2005, Qurei was asked to continue in his post and form a new cabinet. Due to repeated demands by the Fatah officials and PLC members to make the new cabinet more reform-minded, the vote of confidence was repeatedly delayed. It was finally passed on 24 February 2005 after Qurei had revised the list of ministers to accommodate these demands.

On 15 December 2005 Qurei briefly resigned his prime ministership post to run for a seat in the Palestinian Parliament, but returned to office nine days later after deciding not to run. On 26 January 2006 Qurei announced his intention to resign following the Fatah party's defeat by Hamas in the parliamentary elections. At the request of PNA President, Mahmoud Abbas, Qurei remained in office in a caretaker capacity until being replaced by Ismail Haniyeh.

Later life and death

In 2004 Qurei said that if Israel failed to conclude an agreement with the Palestinians, that the Palestinians would pursue a single, bi-national state. During the 6th Fatah conference in August 2009, he failed to get reelected to the Fatah Central Committee. In 2012, in an article in Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper, Ahmed Qurei called for Palestinians to reconsider a one-state instead of a two-state solution. He blamed Israel for "burying" or "decapitating" the two-state solution through the building of settlements.

Qurei died on 22 February 2023, at the age of 85.

References

2. ^ "Profile: Ahmed Qurei". BBC. 12 November 2003.
3. Pike, John. "Ahmed Qurei [Abu Ala]". www.globalsecurity.org.
4. ^ "Ahmed Qorei Fast Facts". CNN. 5 August 2013. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
5. Architect of Self-Rule Apparently Leaves Arafat's Government. The New York Times, 18 September 1994
6. Political Handbook of the World 1998. Springer. 2016. ISBN 9781349149513 – via Google Books.
7. "Palestinian PM nominee is skilled negotiator". edition.cnn.com. 10 September 2003.
8. Benari, Elad (22 February 2023). "Former PA cabinet leader Ahmed Qurei dies at 85". Israel National News.
9. "Arafat names Qurei to replace Abbas - UPI.com". UPI. 7 September 2003.
10. US Warning As Qurei Accepts PM's Role. Sky News, 10 September 2003
11. Tom Lansford,Political Handbook of the World 2014, p. 1631 (last para but one). CQ Press, March 2014.
12. Excerpts: Israeli security cabinet statement. BBC, 11 September 2003
13. Israeli Cabinet Votes to Expel Arafat, but Delays Action. PBS, 11 September 2003
14. Arafat installs emergency government. Agencies-China Daily, 6 October 2003
15. Presidential Decree No. ( ) of 2003. JMCC, archived 15 December 2003
16. The PA Ministerial Cabinet List—Emergency Cabinet October 2003 - November 2003. JMCC. Archived 5 September 2006
17. ^ In the News-New Palestinian Government. Voice of America, 15 November 2003.
    Mister Qureia was speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council. He became acting prime minister in September. He could not form a cabinet, however, because of a dispute with Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat. Mister Qureia had threatened to resign when Mister Arafat would not approve his choice of interior minister. The dispute lasted ten weeks"
18. Palestinian designate: Future as PM uncertain. CNN, 12 October 2003
19. ^ New Palestinian government approved. CNN, 12 November 2003.
20. Palestinian PM Post A Hot Potato. Ellen Crean, CBS/AP, 9 September 2003
21. Arafat denies he is facing crisis. BBC, 24 July 2004
22. ^ State Of Emergency Declared In Gaza. Sky News, 18 July 2004
23. Arafat refuses Qorei resignation. Sapa-AFP, 18 July 2004
24. "Qurei Ends Government Standoff by Withdrawing Resignation". PBS NewsHour. 27 July 2004.
25. Palestinians to hold thrice-delayed vote on cabinet. Agencies/China Daily, 24 February 2005
26. "PALESTINE - Feb 22 - Qurei Puts Technocrats In Place Of 'Old Guard'. - Free Online Library". www.thefreelibrary.com. Retrieved 23 February 2023.
27. "Palestinian PM to quit after poll". BBC. 26 January 2006.
28. Erlanger, Steven (26 January 2006). "Victory Ends 40 Years of Political Domination by Arafat's Party". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331.
29. "Palestinian Prime Ministers Since 2003". Asharq AL-awsat. 20 April 2019.
30. "Palestinian PM's 'one state' call". BBC News. 9 January 2004. Retrieved 5 May 2010.
31. ^ Abu Toameh, Khaled (17 March 2012). "Qurei calls for reconsidering one-state solution".
32. "אחמד קריע (אבו עלא), מאדריכלי הסכם אוסלו, מת בגיל 85". Haaretz. 22 February 2023. Retrieved 22 February 2023.

Works (partial list)

• Beyond Oslo, The Struggle for Palestine: Inside the Middle East Peace Process from Rabin's Death to Camp David (I. B. Tauris, 2008) Book of political memoirs

See also

• First Qurei Government
• Second Qurei Government
• Third Qurei Government

External links

• Profile: Ahmed Qurei, BBC News (8 September 2003)
• Biographies of Palestinian Political Leaders
• London Free Press: Arafat Faces Leadership Crisis
• Qurei denies helping build wall

v t e Prime ministers of Palestine
All-Palestine Government (1948–1959)	Ahmed Hilmi Pasha
Palestinian National Authority (2003–2013)	Mahmoud Abbas Ahmed Qurei Nabil Shaath* Ahmed Qurei Ismail Haniyeh Salam Fayyad
Gaza Strip (2007–2014)	Ismail Haniyeh
State of Palestine (2013–)	Salam Fayyad Rami Hamdallah Mohammad Shtayyeh Mohammad Mustafa
*Acting

• 1937 births
• 2023 deaths
• Central Committee of Fatah members
• Fatah members
• Finance ministers of the Palestinian National Authority
• Members of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization
• Palestinian Sunni Muslims
• People from Abu Dis
• Prime Ministers of the Palestinian National Authority
• Speakers of the Palestinian Legislative Council