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RAMALLAH, Sept 10: Ahmed Qorei agreed to become Palestinian prime minister, announcing he was to form a crisis government in a bid to halt a spiral of violence that saw Israel try to assassinate a Hamas leader on Wednesday.
“The president (Yasser Arafat) asked and urged me strongly to accept to form a government,” Mr Qorei told reporters here.
“I agreed and I have got to face this crisis, to face this problem,” he added in the aftermath of an air strike in Gaza that left two people dead and a senior Hamas political figure, Mahmud al Zahar, wounded.
“I will take the risk. I will take the responsibility. I will go forward. I hope I will be able to form an emergency government — a six-, seven- or eight- person government.”
Mr Qorei condemned the Israeli air strike, but in the same breath, he also criticized two suicide attacks in Israel on Tuesday that left 15 dead as well as the bombers.
ATTACK: Mr Zahar was slightly injured in the raid on his house in the Rimal neighbourhood of Gaza, but his eldest son and one of his bodyguards were killed.
The strike followed the previous night’s suicide attacks in occupied Al Quds and close to an Israeli military base near Tel Aviv within five hours of each other. Both attacks were claimed by Hamas.
Mr Qorei had earlier said a resumption of peace talks was vital to revive the peace process—AFP
