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| Middle East |
| Yasser names |
| 2002-06-04 |
| Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat has named Abdel Razak Yehiyeh, 73, a former commander of the Palestinian Liberation Army - the name given to Palestinian forces in the years before peace talks with Israel - as head of the new security services. Yehiyeh also has several years of experience in negotiating with Israel. Arafat would retain overall control over security matters. The appointment of Yehiyeh was seen as a snub of Mohammed Dahlan, head of the Preventive Security Service in Gaza, who had hoped to be given that post. Dahlan has close ties with US officials and is believed to have maintained a backchannel with Israel. A senior Palestinian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that as part of the reforms, only civil police would be permitted to arrest suspects. In the past, rival Palestinian security forces would frequently carry out arbitrary arrests, sometimes to settle personal scores. They also had overlapping mandates, creating friction between its leaders. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |