A banker by trade, Ahmed Qurei, 67, replaced Mahmoud Abbas as prime minister.

He was earlier speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council.

Also known as Abu Ala, Qurei is a leading member of the mainstream Fatah faction and was one of the architects of the Oslo peace accords signed with Israel in 1993.

He was born in Abu Dis, Jerusalem, in 1937.

He joined the Fatah wing of the Palestine Liberation Organisation at the end of the 1960s and took over its economic and production enterprises in Lebanon in the mid-1970s.

When the PLO was forced out of Lebanon, Qurei went to Tunis, the capital of Tunisia, with Arafat.

In 1989 his political career started when he was elected a member of the Fatah central committee.

After playing a key role in the Oslo talks he continued to participate in numerous negotiations with the Israelis.

Though is reported to be charming and good-humoured, the fact that he has no power base within the PLO may go against him.

Photograph: PPO via Getty Images and AFP/Getty Images