Palestinian PM quits to run for Parliament

RAMALLAH, West Bank - Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie submitted his resignation today to run for a parliamentary seat in next month's election, President Mahmoud Abbas said.

Qurie, a former peace negotiator with Israel appointed by Yasser Arafat in 2003, had been required by law to leave office before the January 25 ballot. He was listed on the ruling Fatah party's ticket presented yesterday.

"According to the election law, candidates must resign from their posts. Abu Ala submitted his resignation to me today," Abbas told Reuters, using Qurie's nickname,

Abbas declined to say whether he had accepted Qurie's resignation, which came amid a power struggle in Fatah pitting a younger generation of leaders against the party's old guard.

There was no immediate word on who might replace Qurie as caretaker prime minister.

Qurie is considered a member of the old guard, a group of old Arafat allies that many Palestinians see as tainted by corruption and cronyism.

Qurie was a key negotiator in secret talks with Israelis in Oslo that led to interim peace deals in 1993. He gained a reputation as one of the more skilled Palestinian politicians in his role as speaker of the Palestinian legislature.

As prime minister, Qurie, seen as lacking charisma and having little grass-roots support, largely failed to carry out long-promised reforms of the Palestinian Authority.

He had occasional run-ins with Abbas, who was elected after Arafat's death, and threatened to resign several times but never went through with it.

- REUTERS