Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, July 03, 2002
Arafat Removes Police, Security Chiefs in Major Shakeup
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat removed senior officials in a major security shakeup unveiled Tuesday. Civil police chief Ghazi Al Jabali will be replaced by Salim Al Burdeini, while Jibril Rajoub, chief of the preventive security in the West Bank, will hand over duty to his deputy Bashir Nafeh, Palestinian officials said.
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat removed senior officials in a major security shakeup unveiled Tuesday.
Civil police chief Ghazi Al Jabali will be replaced by Salim Al Burdeini, while Jibril Rajoub, chief of the preventive security in the West Bank, will hand over duty to his deputy Bashir Nafeh, Palestinian officials said.
Al Jabali and Rajoub will be assigned to new posts as ambassadors respectively in Libya and Egypt, the sources disclosed.
But Al Jabali himself denied knowing about his new duty, saying that he was not officially notified of being sent to Libya. However, he confirmed other changes including the replacement of Mahmoud Abu Marzooq by Omer Ashour as the chief of Palestinian civil defense forces.
Abu Marzouq will be working as a senior official in the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) Ministry of Interior Affairs.
The sources also said that Arafat had appointed Rebhi Arafat as the chief of the PNA military liaison office in the West Bank.
The changes are part of the reforms on the PNA political and security institutions under pressure from the United States and Israel.
Both countries previously demanded the PNA reforms as a key condition for resumption of peace talks. The two countries are currently pressing for a new Palestinian leadership rather than Arafat and his PNA as a precondition for negotiations.
Despite the call for his replacement, Arafat is determined to pursue the reforms to modernize the PNA institutions. He has also called presidential, legislative and municipal elections slated forJanuary and March next year.
Senior Palestinian officials say that Arafat will run for reelection in the upcoming campaign, during which he is seen as being no match for other contenders.