Plestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie suggested on Sunday he would quit next month after agreeing to head a 30-day caretaker Cabinet, stoking uncertainty over a US-backed plan for peace with Israel. Asked about his plans following a meeting of Arafat’s Fatah faction, Qurie said: ‘‘The same (five-day-old) government will continue for another 25 days, and after that there will be a new government and a new prime minister also.’’ But officials close to Qurie said he was not necessarily ruling out continuing in office if he obtained the Cabinet roster of his choice. Aides close to Arafat said he chaired a meeting of Fatah’s executive that sewed up a deal for Qurie to run the emergency Cabinet for 30 days without an interior minister. The accord put in abeyance Qurie’s threat last week to resign over Arafat’s rejection of his nominee for Interior Minister, Nasser Youssef. Meanwhile, a top Arafat aide said: ‘‘Nasser Yousef will be the interior minister but he will be sworn in later.’’ He added that the powers of what will essentially be an emergency cabinet, would be ‘‘effective immediately’’. Qurie wanted a broad cabinet endorsed by Parliament to help rally the public behind possible moves to end ‘‘armed chaos’’, not a pared-down Fatah group decreed by the President. A senior Palestinian official said after 30 days, Qurie would opt either to extend the state of emergency declared by Arafat or present a normal, expanded cabinet to MPs for ratification.
