Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas has placed security services on a 'state of alert' across the West Bank in an effort to halt chaos, a Palestinian security official told AFP. Troops began deploying across main West Bank cities late on Saturday, hours after Abbas ordered similar measures in Ram Allah after an incident on Wednesday in which gunmen opened fire inside his Muqataa headquarters compound. The order was given at top-level meeting between Abbas and his security chiefs late Saturday, the official said. At the meeting, Abbas also gave the order for all branches of the sprawling Palestinian security services to be relocated outside his Muqataa compound. The order, effective immediately, will see the offices of the national security, military intelligence and police, among others, rehoused on a large tract of land about a kilometre from the Muqataa, an official who attended the meeting told AFP. Only the
The move came hours after Abbas sacked West Bank national security chief, General Haj Ismail Jaber, and Ram Allah security chief Yunis al-Has over the shooting incident. Intelligence chief Tawfik Tirawi handed in his resignation, but it was not accepted by the Palestinian leader. The shakeup was provoked after a group of renegade gunmen allied with the dominant Fatah faction opened fire inside Abbas' compound in Ram Allah on Wednesday night. There were no casualties, but the outburst embarrassed Abbas, who repeatedly has pledged to restore security.