3:08pm UK, Tuesday September 09, 2003

Ahmed Qurei President Yasser Arafat's nominee for Palestinian prime minister, has said he will only accept the post if he gets the full support of the US, European Union and if Israel relaxes its military crackdown.

Mahmoud Abbas quit as prime minister at the weekend complaining that Israel was not co-operating in the peace process and Mr Arafat was obstructing his work.

Nominee Ahmed Qurei

He said: "I want to see the Americans - what kind of guarantee...they will (give)," he told Reuters at his West Bank office.

"I want to see Europe, what kind of guarantees and support . . they will (give). I'm not ready to go for a failure."

He told CNN: "I don't want to see more military checkpoints, I don't want to see assassination of Palestinians, I don't want to see demolishing houses,"

Israel has indicated it will not co-operate with any candidate handpicked by Mr Arafat, although prime minister Ariel Sharon has yet to comment.

Health Minister Danny Naveh said Mr Korei's Mr appointment would not bring a resumption of dialogue because "the man who is pulling the strings and controlling everything is one person, and it's Yasser Arafat".

But the EU expressed its full support for Mr Korei.

A spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said Korei was highly respected by the bloc and "will get all support from the European Union".

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.

The Middle East peace process has stumbled following a suicide bombing last month by Palestinian extremists killed 22 people.

Israel responded by intensifying its attacks on Hamas militants.