Former Palestinian Authority PM and Peace Negotiator Ahmed Qurei Dies at 85
Former Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei, also known as Abu Al Alaa, died on Wednesday. He was 85. Sources close to Qurei’s family said on Thursday that he recently suffered from infections that required hospital treatment. He received intravenous antibiotics, but his condition deteriorated overnight.
Qurei was born on March 26, 1937, in Abu Dis, a town near Jerusalem. He has held various leadership positions within the Palestinian Authority, including serving twice as PA prime minister, from 2003 to 2006 and again from 2006 to 2007.
Qurei began his political career in the 1960s, serving as a member of the Jordanian parliament. In the 1970s, he became a member of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and was involved in negotiating with Israeli officials. In the 1990s, Qurei played a key role in the Oslo Accords negotiations, which led to the creation of the PA, officially known as the Palestinian National Authority, and the establishment of a framework for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He was appointed a member of the Palestinian negotiating team and participated in numerous rounds of negotiations with the Israelis.
Qurei has also served as the speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council and as a member of the PLO Executive Committee. He has been involved in efforts to achieve a peaceful resolution to the conflict, advocating for a two-state solution and an end to Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.
As a member of the Fatah Central Committee, Qurei played an important role in the negotiations leading to the 1993 Oslo Accords. From 1994 to 1996, he served as Minister of Economy and Trade and Minister of Industry in the first Palestinian government. In 2000, he took part in negotiations at Camp David in the US with Ehud Barak, Israeli prime minister at the time.
In 2010, Israel revoked his diplomatic privileges after he suggested the PA would have to use violence if the peace talks failed. He was arrested by the Israel Police in 2013 at the entrance to the Maaleh Adumim settlement in the West Bank.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas described Qurei as a “great patriotic fighter” before a ceremony to honor him at the presidential headquarters in Ramallah. “Abu Al Alaa spent his life as a solid fighter defending Palestine, its cause, its people and its independent national decision,” Abbas said.
Qurei’s body will be taken from Ramallah to his home village of Abu Dis, east of Jerusalem, where he will be laid to rest after the Asr prayer in the late afternoon.
