Palestinian PM agrees to stay

Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie last night retracted his resignation, ending a two-week standoff with President Yasser Arafat.

The move came after Arafat agreed to grant his premier some security powers to ease a paralysing Palestinian power struggle.

Qurie's retraction was in exchange for control over police and internal security. The police and internal security are part of an apparatus whose chaos and corruption are seen by mediators as obstacles to peacemaking with Israel.

Arafat still retains his grip on national security and intelligence forces, which have the great majority of armed security personnel.