On 6 September 2003, Mahmoud Abbas resigned as Prime Minister and Ahmed Qurei was asked to become PM of an emergency government. Following a suicide bombing in Haifa on 4 October, Israel threatened to "remove" Arafat and urged him to act within 48 hours. The next day, Arafat created a new government by decree, before Qurei had accomplished his task to form a government. Initially, Qurei had planned to present a larger government to parliament for approval later in the week. The Fatah Central Committee agreed to the emergency Cabinet, but the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Legislative Council refused to hold a vote of confidence before the formation of the full Cabinet. In his decree, Arafat had named Nasser Yousef to become the Interior Minister of a nine-member cabinet. However, Yousef was not sworn in. Palestinian sources said Yousef had refused to join the government because he was unhappy Arafat had appointed an emergency Cabinet instead of going through the normal channels. Other sources said he would be sworn in soon. On 12 November 2003, however,
Hakam Balawi was appointed Interior Minister in the next government. After Arafat's death, Nasser Yousef became at last Minister of Interior and National Security in the
Palestinian Authority Government of February 2005. ==Members of the Government==