Confusion surrounds Arafat bid to reform security

MIDDLE-EAST: The Palestinian Authority's effort to restructure its security apparatus collapsed into confusion yesterday.

The West Bank security chief, Mr Jabril Rajoub, denied reports that he had been dismissed by the President, Mr Yasser Arafat.

He said he had received no official notification of his removal from his post.

"I think someone is trying to harm the whole security services" by leaking "lies and baseless stories", he said.

Contradicting reports that he had refused to step down, Mr Rajoub said he would be ready to do so if Mr Arafat ordered his dismissal.

Mr Arafat has been attempting to restructure his security command structure in order to address charges from the US and Israel that some of its members are involved in terrorism or reluctant to pursue terrorists.

The Palestinian Minister of Public Works, Mr Azzam al-Ahmad, announced on Tuesday that the former governor of the Jenin district, Mr Zuhair Manasra, and Mr Rajoub had been ordered to switch posts.

Mr Manasra, a senior official in the Palestine Liberation Organisation and an Arafat loyalist, dealt with the April crisis in Jenin with efficiency.

Mr Rajoub lost popular credibility during Israel's spring offensive. On the one hand, his forces, said to number 3,000, did not defend the Palestinian populace from the invading Israeli troops. On the other, when Israeli armour besieged his headquarters in Bitunia, a suburb of Ramallah, he ordered his men to surrender themselves and dozens of prisoners held in the compound. Palestinian civilians were deeply angered and humiliated by his actions and demanded his dismissal.

To make matters worse for Mr Arafat's restructuring process, Gen Ghazi Jabali, the head of the Palestinian police in Gaza, claimed that reports that he had been sacked were just unsubstantiated "rumours". Gen Jabali is also unpopular. Palestinian sources had said he would be replaced by his deputy.

Meanwhile, in the southern Gaza Strip, at least 21 people, including seven policemen, were wounded in clashes between 500 Hamas supporters and Palestinian security forces yesterday.

Violence erupted when the crowd attacked a police station at the Rafah refugee camp, demanding the execution of a suspected collaborator. The accused man had been handed over to the authorities by Hamas on Monday. Police and security men opened fire after protesters threw rocks and pipe bombs at the station. The Hamas spokesman, Dr Abdel-Aziz Rantissi, said the movement was not involved in the assault.

In Gaza City, supporters of Mr Arafat staged a rally to protest against the US call to replace him. One speaker representing al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed group linked to Mr Arafat's Fatah party, pledged that anyone who presents himself as an alternative to Mr Arafat would be killed. Demonstrators handed a letter to UN headquarters urging Mr Kofi Annan, the secretary general, "to condemn [US President George] Bush's remarks and to respect and defend the right of Palestinians to decide on their leadership".

Yesterday morning, the Israeli security cabinet met to consider gradually lifting the daylight curfew on the seven reoccupied West Bank Palestinian towns.

The Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Ariel Sharon, told colleagues "we will remain in the city centres" but said that the army should ease restrictions, beginning in "quiet areas".

It was decided to issue work permits for 5,000 Palestinians, in addition to the 2,00, already employed in Israel. Before the intifada began in September 2000, 150,000 Palestinians had jobs in Israel.

The security cabinet also authoritised the unfreezing of Palestinian taxes, collected by Israel on behalf of the Authority, to pay its water and electricity bills.