RAMALLAH — The Palestinian Authority has launched a drive to replace
errant security commanders.
PA officials said Interior Minister Nasser Yusef has warned that police
and security commanders who refuse to obey orders would be immediately
dismissed. Yusef has already carried out his threat in the West Bank and
Gaza Strip.
Over the past 10 days, a series of security commanders have been
replaced in the West Bank and Gaza Strip amid their refusal to crack down on
Palestinian insurgency groups. They include the dismissal of Gaza security
chief Maj. Gen. Abdul Razik Al Majaydeh.
On Tuesday, Yusef dismissed the commander of PA security forces in the
northern West Bank city of Jenin after the minister's convoy came under fire
from Fatah insurgents. The insurgents were said to have been led by Fatah
commander in the northern West Bank, Zakariya Zubeidi.
Officials said the Jenin security chief was fired after he refused to
arrest Zubeidi and six other insurgents. Yusef then ordered the new
commander to arrest the Fatah gunmen.
The showdown began when Yusef arrived in Jenin to investigate a series
of attacks by Islamic Jihad against Israel. During Yusef's meeting in PA
headquarters in Jenin, Zubeidi and his cohorts fired into the air and
demanded that the interior minister leave the city.
PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has reiterated his pledge to reform PA
security agencies. But Abbas did not say that the effort has begun.
"The most important message is our complete readiness to exert 100
percent effort in the domain of security," Abbas told a conference in London
on Tuesday. "To that end, we deployed our troops on the ground and we took a
final decision concerning the consolidation of the security agencies."
Meanwhile, Israeli security forces arrested Zubeidi's brother, Jibril,
an Islamic Jihad insurgent accused of planning to fire missiles toward the
Israeli city of Afula and attack a Jerusalem school.
Israeli sources said the 19-year-old Jihad operative failed to fire the
missiles because of what they termed technical difficulties. On Wednesday,
however, Israeli authorities declared an alert of a suicide bombing in
Jerusalem and police reinforced roadblocks throughout the city.