Rajoub in line for new security post (Arafat undercuts Abbas)

[papau]

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=332816&contrassID=2&subContrassID=1&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y

Rajoub in line for new security post By Arnon Regular
Former West Bank Preventive Security chief Jibril Rajoub announced yesterday that he expects to return soon to a top security post. Rajoub also called upon Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas to accept the decision of Fatah's Central Committee and agree to appoint General Nasser Yusuf as interior minister…. Palestinian sources said that Arafat intends to make Rajoub "head of national security in the Palestinian Liberation Organization" - a post that predates the PA era. Arafat and Rajoub have grown closer in recent months as the rival team of Abbas and Mohammed Dahlan has tried to establish its supremacy in security affairs. <snip>

... Rajoub's renewed involvement will certainly make things more difficult for Dahlan. Meanwhile, Abbas continues to oppose Yusuf's appointment as interior minister, including rejecting a compromise proposal that would leave Yusuf devoid of security responsibilities. <snip>

From the US wire services:<snip>Rocked by the collapse last week of a truce militants declared in a nearly three-year-old uprising for statehood, reformist Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas faced a new challenge to his authority from Yasser Arafat...appointed a new national security adviser in a move likely to strengthen Arafat's grip on Palestinian security services. President Bush has responded to a surge in tit-for-tat violence by stepping up calls for Abbas and a key ally, Security Affairs Minister Mohammed Dahlan, to dismantle militant groups as mandated by the peace plan. But the appointment of Rajoub, a former West Bank security chief, could duplicate security responsibilities within the Palestinian Authority and complicate any crackdown on militants, Palestinian officials said. Rajoub, however, said his appointment would help narrow Arafat's differences with Abbas, a moderate who has failed to deliver political gains during the seven weeks the truce was in effect and fears a crackdown on militants could cause civil war. <snip>