DAHLAN OFFERED TO RETURN TO PA
GAZA CITY — Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has
appealed for the return of former security chief Mohammed Dahlan.
PA officials said Abbas has offered Dahlan the post of security chief
for the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Under the offer, Dahlan would become PA
national security adviser and oversee efforts to reform and improve the
security forces and coordinate with Israel and Western countries.
In 2004, Dahlan left his post as chief of the Preventive Security
Apparatus in the Gaza Strip. In 2006, Dahlan won a seat in the Palestinian
Legislative Council.
Dahlan was said to still control security in much of the Gaza Strip.
Dahlan remains in control of 4,000-member PSA, said to be the most powerful
Fatah-aligned force in the Gaza Strip.
Officials said Dahlan has been urged to accept the PA security post from
Egypt and the United States. They said the two countries have concluded that
their coordination with PA security forces would be easier with Dahlan at
the helm.
The United States has poured $42 million to help improve security forces
loyal to Abbas. The main beneficiary has been the Presidential Guards, which
numbers about 3,500. The PA plans to increase this to up to 10,000 officers.
But the Presidential Guards has been powerless to stop the rise of Hamas
in the Gaza Strip. Hamas operates the Executive Force, which numbers 6,000
officers and used largely against Fatah.
On Monday, Dahlan was seen weeping at the funeral of three children of a
senior PA intelligence official gunned down in Gaza City. The children were
believed to have been killed by the Hamas-aligned Saleh Eddin Brigades,
which apparently thought their father was in the car.
Later, Abbas ordered troop reinforcements around vital facilities in the
Gaza Strip. On Tuesday, however, clashes resumed between Fatah and Hamas
forces in Khan Yunis. Four people, including PA security officers aligned
with Fatah, were injured by fire from the Executive Force, part of the
Hamas-controlled Interior Ministry, witnesses said.
Iran has financed the Executive Force and pledged $250 million for the
Hamas-led PA. Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said the money would arrive in
2007.
"The total amount of financial aid from Iran will reach around a
quarter-billion dollars," Haniyeh said on Monday.
