Mr Yasser Arafat, reported to be preparing to stand down because of ill health, met his security chiefs yesterday to chart the next stage of a crackdown on Islamic militants.
A left-wing Beirut newspaper said yesterday that the Palestinian leader, citing poor health, plans to retire as early as February after the implementation of the land-for-security agreement with Israel.
Al-Kifah Al-Arabi reported that Mr Arafat told President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt last week that he wants to quit because of "poor health and extreme weakness". The newspaper quoted Arab diplomatic sources in Cairo, where the two leaders met. Egyptian officials were not immediately available for comment, and the Palestinians also did not react immediately.
Mr Arafat (68) has been dogged by persistent rumours of failing health but has dismissed the speculation as subversive propaganda. He has been variously reported to be suffering from Parkinson's disease and depression, and is often seen on TV looking pale and tired, his lower lip trembling and his hands shaking.
This is not the first time reports of his imminent resignation have appeared in the Arab press.
Kuwait's Al-Watan Al-Arabi published a similar report yesterday, and Egypt's government-owned Al-Gomhuriya said in June that after signing the deal Mr Arafat would hand over interim power to Mr Ahmed Qurai, head of the Palestinian Legislative Council, or Mr Salim Zaanoun, speaker of the Palestine National Council.
Mr Arafat plans to leave the Palestinian self-rule areas and set up residence in Cairo and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the Al-Kifah Al- Arabi said. He will occasionally visit Gaza and the West Bank, it said.
In a first response to yesterday's suicide attack on an Israeli convoy, dozens of activists in the Hamas and Islamic Jihad groups were detained, including senior leaders. Security officials said arrests were made throughout the night.
The founder and spiritual leader of Hamas, Sheik Ahmed Yassin, remained under house arrest yesterday. Officers sealed off the sandy slum streets near his house in Gaza City and questioned passers-by. Police informed journalists that they were barred from speaking to him by telephone.
Mr Arafat ordered the arrests in response to the suicide attack at a busy Gaza junction in which an Islamic militant rammed an explosives-laden car into an Israeli army jeep escorting a red-and-white bus carrying 40 Israeli schoolchildren.
The children were unhurt, but the car-bomb killed an Israeli soldier in the jeep, a 19-year-old immigrant from Ukraine now being praised as a fallen hero. The assailant also died, and his identity remained a mystery.