Rajoub's Appointment Confirms Palestinian Power Struggle

Saeda Hamad     Al-Hayat     2003/08/26

Ramallah

The Palestinian government, headed by Mahmoud Abbas, made no comment on the decision of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat to promote Jibril Rajoub, the head of preventive security in the West Bank, from colonel to general, and appointing him as his national security affairs advisor. In parallel, the Palestinian leadership is holding successive meetings and discussions to ratify the appointment of Nasser Yussef as Minister of Interior, in an attempt to bring all the Palestinian security bodies under one leadership - a decision that Arafat seems to object.     

In a special interview with Al-Hayat, General Rajoub asserted that his new position also included his membership at the Supreme National Security Council headed by Arafat, who will be supervising the reformulation of the security bodies. Rajoub also pointed out that the higher security body that is being reactivated will unify all the security bodies, meaning those that fall under the authority of the Ministry of Interior, as well as those that do not. He added that they would coordinate with the international Quartet, so as to implement the required steps and "implement the plan of the Roadmap if it is still on, because I think that Israel buried it with its Apache planes, tanks and the series of murders it committed."

The Palestinian President's decision seems to fall within his view on how the Palestinians should confront the American and Israeli pressures. In this context, he has refused to relinquish his control over certain security bodies, including the intelligence and the Palestinian security forces, which do not fall within the authority of the Ministry of Interior, where Mohamad Dahlan is in charge of the internal security.

The Palestinian President took his decision Sunday night, following two consecutive meetings held between the Fatah central committee and the PLO's executive committee. These meetings came as part of the discussions being held to find a way out of the collapsing security situation, knowing that the U.S. is exerting pressure to unify all the security bodies and make Arafat give up control over some of them.

Moreover, Abbas abstained from participating in the meeting of the executive committee, and it is still not clear whether he did the same in a meeting that was scheduled last night. Reliable sources from the Palestinian Premier's office said that the decision to assign General Rajoub was the President's personal business, and that they didn't have anything to do in that matter; they are also still waiting for the President's answer regarding the issue of unifying the security bodies.

The disagreement between Abbas and Arafat comes at a time when Israel announced its intention to pursue the assassination of leaders of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, regardless of any measure that the Palestinian Authority takes.

Tension in the Palestinian street has reached a peak, with the expectation of Hamas' retaliation to the murder of four of its military leaders in the Gaza Strip, as well as the assassination of Ismail Abu Shanab.

Furthermore, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, affiliated to Fatah, promised to avenge the Israeli assassination of Palestinian activists. In a videotape aired on the Israeli television, masked members of the group, carrying machine guns, were promising to kill Israeli Premier Sharon, as their target number one.

Political analyst Samih Shbaib said: "Israel is seeking to destroy the Palestinian political entity, whether it is represented by its President or Prime Minister, and it has taken a strategic position which it will not change as long as it enjoys American support."

Moreover, Ma'ariv reported yesterday that Israel has started building the third part of the separation wall surrounding East Jerusalem and otherwise known as "Jerusalem's cover," even though this will join both villages of Sour Baher and Abu Dis, as well as Arab quarters in Jerusalem, to Israel.