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| Middle East |
| Who's in, who's out: Yasser juggling thugs |
| 2002-05-23 |
| Col. Jibril Rajoub, head of the Preventive Security Service in the West Bank, opposes the consolidation of the Palestinian Authority's security services into one agency, he said yesterday. Rajoub, who just returned from meetings in Egypt, said consolidation is "an Israeli dream." Oh, yeah. He's right. Put them all in one organization, and you can whack the upper crust and get them all at once. Better to leave them in umpteen different competing organizations with no control at all, and that way there'll always be a current reason to whack somebody. Anyway, it looks like Jibril hasn't been dumped, at least not yet, even if he did have to buy his own bus ticket back from Egypt. Brig.-Gen. Amin Hindi, head of the General Intelligence Service in the Gaza Strip, told Al-Kuds newspaper yesterday he agrees the security services should be consolidated. Al-Hindi seems to be in the Erekat-Dahlan (Gaza Gang of Five) faction, for what that's worth... Col. Muhammad Dahlan, head of the Preventive Security Service in the Gaza Strip, said earlier this week he has proposed to PA Chairman Yasser Arafat that the eight security services be consolidated into four, internal security, external security, the police, and the border guards. Looks like he might have the PA sources told the London based Al-Kuds al-Arabi that Arafat has decided to make some changes in the security services. They said Rajoub, Hindi, and Maj.-Gen. Ghazi Jabali, head of the PA Police, would be ignored in the new formation, while Brig.-Gen. Tewfik Tirawi, head of the General Intelligence Service in the West Bank, who stayed with Arafat during the siege of his Ramallah compound, will head the external security apparatus. So both Rajoub and al-Hindi are out, and Tirawi's in. Debka says he's the al-Aqsa Brigades' commander, which is less than comforting. Dahlan's position is still unclear. Arafat proposed naming him deputy interior minister, responsible for the internal security service, but Dahlan refused and asked to be named Just dump him in a job somewhere until his car blows up. The sources said Salam Fayad, head of the Arab Bank, would succeed Muhammad Nashashibi as minister of finance. Saeb Erekat would be the minister of education if Hanan Ashrawi does not accept the position. Another of the Gang of Five. "Give him a salary and a post, but don't let him get in trouble. But if you can get Hanan, just shoot him instead." Erekat's the one who invented the Jenin massacre story. Maher Masri will remain minister of economy and trade, Yasser Abed Rabbo minister of culture and information, and Nabil Shaath minister of planning and international cooperation. "Don't screw with them yet. I dunno how many guns they control..." Masri's a nonentity, somebody's cousin. Rabbo is notable for stating that "He's a liar. They're all liars!" Shaath is another of the Gang of Five. Cabinet secretary Ahmed Abdel Rahman, Minister for Non-Governmental Organizations Hassan Asfour, resigned minister of parliamentary affairs Nabil Amr, Housing Minister Abdul Rahman Hamed, and Minister of Supplies Abu Ali Shaheen would have no post in the new cabinet. The press office is already working on their obituaries. Rahman is the thug who told the AP guy that they "couldn't guarantee his safety" if he kept filming the dancing, chanting |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |