Arafat Fires Security, Police Chiefs

03/07/2002| IslamWeb

HIGHLIGHTS: Sackings Seen as Major Step Toward Reforming Security Services||UK Too Calls for a New Palestinian Leadership||Mubarak Sending Envoys to Israel & Palestinians||Occupation Troops Kill 15 Palestinians over Past 12 Days While No Israelis Were Killed During the Same Period of Time||Israelis Re-Enter Qalqilya & Two Israeli Occupation Soldiers Are Reported Wounded in the Gaza Strip|| STORY: Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on Tuesday fired his West Bank security chief and the Gaza police chief, officials said, in a major step toward reforming his security services.

Mr. Arafat has dismissed both his chief of police, General Ghazi Jibali, and his head of civil defence, Mahmoud Abu Marzuk.

The announcement was made on Palestinian radio.

Reports say he is also sacking the head of the West Bank preventive security service, Colonel Jibril Rajoub. (Read photo caption)

The Palestinian Public Works Minister, Azzam al Ahmed, told the French news agency AFP that the former governor of Jenin, Zuher Manafrah, had already replaced him.

Colonel Ragout has been tipped in the past as a possible successor to Mr. Arafat.

Arafat has been under pressure to reform his security services. Israel and the United States have insisted that he must streamline the agencies and turn them toward preventing Resistance attacks against Israel.

When he reshuffled his Cabinet last month, Arafat named Gen. Abdel Razak Yihiyeh as interior minister in charge of the security services, a post Arafat had held before.

UK TOO CALLS FOR A NEW PALESTINIAN LEADERSHIP

A British Foreign Office minister has called on the Palestinians to bring forward new leaders for the international community to deal with. Mike O'Brien was speaking shortly after talks with Yasser Arafat in Ramallah at which he urged him to "exercise his authority to end the suicide bombings".

Speaking after his talks with Mr. Arafat, Mr. O'Brien said it was essential to reform Palestinian institutions and create "circumstances in which other representatives can come forward with whom we can deal, as well as President Arafat."

He added that the international community was looking forward to a "two-state solution" for Israel and the Palestinians.

MUBARAK SENDING ENVOYS TO ISRAEL & PA

Israeli media has meanwhile reported that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Monday he will send envoys to Israel and the Palestinian Authority soon. A diplomatic source said Tuesday the message would most likely be twofold: concern over Israel's prolonged presence in Area A, and discussion of who will replace Arafat. The envoy to Israel will likely be Mubarak's adviser Osama el-Baz, the official said.

He said the message to the PA will be; it is time to "kick Arafat upstairs" to a symbolic position, and that the US is determined not to deal with Arafat. The official said the Egyptian envoy would likely remind Palestinians their position in the world is not what it once was, Europeans are not rallying to their side, and even the UN has been relatively silent concerning recent Israeli occupation action.

OCCUPATION ARMY RE-ENTERS QALQUILYA

Israeli soldiers, meanwhile, re-entered the West Bank town of Qalqilya, residents said, just hours after pulling out and redeploying at the edge of the town. The occupation army said that three Palestinians were arrested, including two who, it claimed, were planning bombing missions.

The round-the-clock curfew was lifted for several hours Tuesday in Bethlehem but remained in place in other areas.

Since the military clamped down on West Bank towns 12 days ago and imposed curfews, no Israelis have been killed by Palestinians but 15 Palestinians have died in clashes.

TWO ISRAELIS WOUNDED IN GAZA

It has meanwhile been reported that an Israeli occupation army officer and soldier were lightly wounded early Wednesday morning in the Gaza Strip. It is unclear if the occupation army or the Palestinian Resistance that first opened fire. The Israelis were evacuated to an area hospital.

PHOTO CAPTION

(Top) Rajoub is one of the most powerful figures in the West Bank but has had a falling out with Arafat. During a previous incursion into the West Bank, Israeli forces destroyed Rajoub's headquarters. He ordered the men inside to surrender, forcing them to lose face among many Palestinians.

(Bottom) Mr. O'Brien (Near left) said he had told Mr. Arafat that "he must exercise his authority to end the suicide bombings" and the Palestinian leader had promised to "do all he could".