In the drawers of his house in the Jerusalem suburb of Abu Dis, there are — along with various books he published about the Mideast peace process — nine more books he wrote about Fatah and one single book about his personal life. These have not yet seen the light of day.

Qurei joined Fatah in 1968 and held various positions in it, the Palestinian Liberation Organization, and the Palestinian Authority, including Prime Minister of the PA.

Qurei on the Israeli Prime Ministers

Over the years, several Israelis who were close to Rabin said he considered withdrawing from the Oslo Accords as the nature of the Palestinian Authority became clear to him. Qurei told his people that he had never encountered such a sign, and the thought of Rabin withdrawing from the agreements never occurred to him.

In one of the early meetings between Rabin and Arafat — in 1994, at the Erez checkpoint between Israel and Gaza — Rabin undertook to surround all Israeli settlements with a fence, to to assure that the settlements would not expand and spread. Qurei and Peres were present at the meeting.

When a wave of Palestinian suicide bombers struck Israel in 1996, Peres pleaded with Arafat by phone, “Stop the terrorism of Hamas. I am about to face Netanyahu in decisive elections, the attacks will hurt my chances.” Peres, who was shocked by Rabin’s murder, told Arafat, “In May we will lose to Netanyahu.”

Qurei believed that Ehud Barak and Benjamin Netanyahu were very far from accepting the Oslo Accords, but in contrast to them, Ehud Olmert showed surprising political generosity towards Mahmoud Abbas, who became Palestinian President in 2004 following the death of Arafat. According to Qurei, Olmert wanted to be remembered as the Israeli leader who broke through the conflict with the Palestinians.

Olmert actually took over the negotiations when then-foreign minister Tzipi Livni was making progress in the peace talks. According to Qurei’s people, Qurei and Livni made significant progress, but Olmert wanted to advance himself and be the person alongside Abbas who brought about the final agreement. But Olmert cooled off and “failed to show courage and at the end of the process,” Qurei’s people said. “Olmert’s weakness and lack of courage defeated him, not the corruption scandals in which he got involved,” they said.

According to Qurei’s people, many in the Palestinian leadership regarded Olmert’s predecessor, Ariel Sharon as the greatest Israeli leader since David Ben-Gurion. Ramallah viewed Sharon as a visionary able to act boldly and decisively, compared to other Israeli leaders.

Sharon showed great respect and courtesy in the meetings with the Palestinians, they added.

On the other hand, the Palestinians viewed Ehud Barak as cold and arrogant.

Qurei’s people said that three times Arafat visited Barak at his home in Kochav Yair, near Netanya and on the first two visits, Barak did not bother to accompany Arafat to the helicopter. On Arafat’s third visit, Barak’s associates warned him about the lack of politeness and Barak accompanied Arafat to the helicopter. Qurei saw this as a false show of respect, and in 2000, during the Camp David II summit, when Barak was photographed playfully pushing Arafat into a cabin as President Bill Clinton looked on, Qurei said he was not impressed and “knew” Barak did not intend to move forward on peace.

Moreover, Barak did not meet privately with Arafat at any point during the two-week summit, which drew the ire of Shimon Peres, who told Qurei that if it were up to him, he “would have slept with Arafat in the cabins at Camp David until the two of them left there together with a signed agreement.”

Qurei’s impression was that many Israeli leaders “wanted to cut the ribbon” at the end of the Oslo process — Olmert above all. Barak set impossible conditions from the very first stage, while Benjamin Netanyahu expressed a principled opposition to any progress.

According to Qurei, the Hebron accords agreed upon by Netanyahu and the Palestinians in 1997 breached the Oslo accords. The Hebron agreement divided the city into Jewish and Palestinian areas, which Qurei called “a dangerous precedent.” Arafat accepted the agreement over Qurei’s objections.