RAMALLAH ø Palestinian legislators have called on Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat to end the wave of crime and corruption in the West Bank.
The Palestinian Legislative Council, accusing the government of Prime
Minister Ahmed Qurei of failing to ensure national security, has called on
Arafat to impose order on the security forces to end the crime wave
throughout the West Bank. Legislator said criminals and PA security officers
have cooperated in numerous burglaries, car thefts and abductions in such
West Bank cities as Bethlehem, Nablus and Ramallah.
"They have failed to take steps to ensure national security and the rule
of law," a statement by the PLC Political Committee said.
The committee said PA police have suspended patrols and suffer from a
high rate of absenteeism. The panel said that the result has been a huge
increase in violent crime in the West Bank.
The PA has about a dozen security agencies that operate in the West
Bank. They comprise more than 25,000 officers, including police, anti-riot
squad, Preventive Security Apparatus and a range of intelligence agencies.
Palestinian sources said police officers, regarded as underpaid, have
been moonlighting with the encouragement of their commanders. They said
these private jobs range from joining Palestinian insurgency groups such as
Fatah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad to cooperating with criminals in an effort to
shake down Palestinian merchants and homeowners.
The PLC also said the government has failed to implement reforms within
the security agencies. One reform, supported by Finance Minister Salam
Fayyad, called for salaries to be paid directly to employees of the security
agencies, rather than to their commanders. The commanders were said to have
been taking a cut of the salaries of their employees.
In response, Arafat has ordered his security commanders to establish a
joint operations room to improve coordination. A PA statement said Arafat
also directed his National Security Council to increase measures to stop
those who violate the law.
In an unrelated development, Israeli authorities found a briefcase bomb
near the West Bank city of Kalkilya. The bomb was said to have been meant
for a Fatah suicide strike in Tel Aviv last week.
