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Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, center, also known as Abu Mazen performs his Friday Muslim prayers at his headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah Friday April 1, 2005. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)
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| By Associated Press April 2, 2005 |
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| Palestinian security forces fired shots and lit fires near the Ramallah HQ of Mahmoud Abbas. (AP) |
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Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas relieved the top West Bank security chief of his command Saturday and served notice of his intention to force out hundreds of senior officers, paving the way for a younger generation of commanders to take over.
Abbas had been criticized for not moving fast enough to reform his flabby security apparatus, seen as largely ineffective in reining in Palestinian militants. Saturday's decision sent the strongest signal since Abbas took office in January that he is serious about cleaning house.
"We will not allow anyone to take the law into his own hands and sabotage our situation," Abbas said, criticizing the security forces for failing to do their jobs.
The international community, led by the United States, has long demanded that the Palestinians streamline their corruption-plagued security forces, which under the late Yasser Arafat ballooned into nearly a dozen rival branches with often overlapping authorities.
Abbas had come under growing pressure at home to take action after gunmen shot up Abbas' offices and rampaged through Ramallah on Wednesday. The gunmen were loyal to West Bank security chief Ismail Jaber, who was relieved of his command Saturday after submitting his resignation a day earlier. The local security chief in Ramallah, Younis Al-Aas, was also dismissed.
In a meeting with about 50 intellectuals, religious leaders and business people Saturday evening, Abbas said the gunmen had used the government compound, known as the Mukataa, for more than four years "to commit crimes and to come back to it."
Arafat had sheltered more than two dozen militants, many of them wanted by Israel, in the Mukataa. Some of the gunmen were mainly involved in attacking Israelis, while others also engaged in extortion, kidnapping and other violence against Palestinians.
"I want to distinguish between nationalists and criminals," Abbas said in remarks broadcast on Palestinian TV. "The security apparatus did not perform its duty, so it was crucial to take a stand," he added in his most blunt criticism yet of the security forces.
It was not immediately clear who would replace Jaber.
Israeli media mentioned Jibril Rajoub, Abbas' national security adviser, as a possible successor. However, Palestinian officials said they did not know whether Abbas has picked a successor to Jaber.
Rajoub once headed the powerful Preventive Security Service in the West Bank, but fell out with Arafat over how to handle the conflict with Israel. Rajoub opposed using weapons against Israel and largely kept his men on the sidelines during the past four years of fighting.
Abbas also announced Saturday that he would enforce a recent law requiring security personnel to retire at 60. At least 2,000 top and middle-level security forces, many throwbacks to the Arafat era, would be forced out, paving the way for a new generation to take over, security officials said.
A committee has already identified hundreds who will be sacked, one official said on condition of anonymity.
Another security official said implementation of the law would "allow Abbas to get rid of many security chiefs and replace them with others better equipped for the job."
It would also let him skirt the minefield of selectively firing security forces.
Abbas has vowed to bring law and order to Palestinian areas and to reform his security forces, which have not only been involved in attacks on Israel, but have also engaged in crimes against Palestinians.
With ordinary Palestinians and the international community awaiting action from him, he is trying to execute the difficult balancing act of reining militants who are reluctant to cede power to him, while avoiding a confrontation that could easily spin out of control.
The Palestinian Authority has 45,000 to 50,000 security forces on its payroll.
Jaber, who had been West Bank security chief since the Palestinian Authority was created in 1994, was an Arafat crony. He submitted his resignation Friday, and Abbas accepted it Saturday during a meeting with his prime minister, Ahmed Qureia, and his interior minister, Nasser Yousef, on transforming the security forces. More meetings are to follow, officials said.
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