OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, 26 August 2003 — President Yasser Arafat reasserted his authority over Palestinian security forces yesterday, appointing a new national security adviser to work on a sketchy reform plan and providing no sign of a major clampdown on militants demanded by the United States.
Drafting Brig. Gen. Jibril Rajoub, a former West Bank security chief, to the new post was Arafat’s latest move in a power struggle with Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, a backer of the US-sponsored road map peace plan thrown into turmoil by a Hamas bombing and Israel’s fierce response.
In Gaza City, Hamas supporters warned Israel to “prepare coffins” after burying four militants killed in an Israeli missile strike on Sunday, just four days after a similar strike killed a senior Hamas leader.
Israel and the United States are pressing Palestinian authorities to unify their security forces in order to dismantle the armed groups — a key proviso of the road map — after a Hamas bomber killed 21 people on a Jerusalem bus last week.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell last week appealed in vain to Arafat — accused by Israel of links to terrorism and shunned by Washington for a year — to give Abbas full authority over security.
Palestinian national security forces, who would lead any clampdown, as well as the intelligence services all answer directly to Arafat. Abbas has authority over the rest, including the civil police force.
Members of the central committee of Arafat’s Fatah movement have proposed appointing a new interior minister, but without giving him any of Arafat’s powers. The committee was to meet again later yesterday to discuss the idea.
Abbas has rejected it, saying it will make little difference unless the post carries real clout.
But his Cabinet had no direct say in Arafat’s latest move to appoint Rajoub and establish a new national security council, which Arafat himself will chair.
Rajoub said the security council will oversee “reform of the security forces and its leadership.” But he declined to elaborate on the scope or timing of its work, suggesting there is little chance of Arafat yielding any time soon.
