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Militant made Palestine security chief
The interior minister of the Hamas-led Palestinian government announced the creation of a special force consisting of armed militants and led by a man wanted by Israel.
The minister, Said Siyam, issued a decree appointing Jamal Abu Samhadana, the head of the Popular Resistance Committees, as director general of the Interior Ministry.
The 45-year-old, who has escaped two Israeli assassination attempts, will be in a position to oversee all police, as well as civil and preventative security forces.
A former security officer who was dismissed for refusing to report for duty during the uprising against Israel, Samhadana was given the rank of colonel.
The task of the new force, to be made up of hundreds of volunteers, would be to support the security forces, which are dominated by the Fatah faction of the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas.
The announcement came amid tensions between Abbas, who is officially in charge of security responsibilities and appointments, and a Hamas government flexing its muscle.
The move infuriated the United States and Israel.
Security chaos
"We want to end the security chaos and illegal activity in the Palestinian territories," Siam told supporters in Gaza City.
"We need all people to support us in this mission."
Security chaos is rife in the Palestinian territories, where armed groups largely operate above the law and the authorities have proved incapable of acting on promises to rein in gunmen.
The interior ministry spokesman, Khalid Abu Hilal, said the new force would be made up of hundreds of fighters from the armed wings of all factions, and would support the work of police and security services.
They would not be paid a salary by the Palestinian Authority, which is in the midst of an acute financial crisis, but serve on a voluntary basis.
Asked if the new force would include members of Hamas' armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, Abu Hilal replied that it would consist of "all the factions".
The Qassam Brigades have carried out dozens of anti-Israeli suicide attacks over the past decade, although none in the past year. Hamas has been blacklisted as a terrorist organisation in the West.
US, Israeli rebuke
Washington and Tel Aviv, which are boycotting the Hamas-led government, were quick to denounce the appointment.
"This is just another window into the nature of this Hamas-led government and underscores the importance of the international community maintaining unity in sending a strong message to them to change," said the US state department spokesman, Sean McCormack.
He said the United States would hold the Palestinian government accountable for preventing acts of terror and for dismantling terror groups as required under agreements previous Palestinian governments have signed.
Gideon Meir, an Israeli foreign ministry official, echoed that.
"If someone needed proof about the connection between the Hamas rule and Palestinian terror, this appointment is the ultimate proof for this connection," he told the AP. "It's like allowing the fox to guard the chicken coop."
Islamic Jihad won't join
Meanwhile, Hamas' rival, Islamic Jihad, announced that it would not take part in the new force, with its spokesman, Abu Abdullah insisting that "our mission is to resist the Israeli occupation."
Jihad has been behind the last six other suicide bombings on Israel.
The group claimed responsibility on Monday for a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv that left six people dead and dozens wounded.
Rivalry
Security is a key battleground in tensions between the radical Islamist group and Abbas since Hamas' landslide election win in January that ended Fatah's decade-long domination of politics.
Abbas' response to growing mayhem in the territories has been to name the Fatah strongman in Gaza, Rashid Abu Shbak, as overall head of the myriad security forces, sparking complaints from Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniya.
"The government has been denied responsibility over security bodies, the borders and other powers, but it still needs to pay salaries," Haniya said on Friday.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/20E32014-CE16-40AD-BC03-4BF24DE0945E.htm
The 45-year-old, who has escaped two Israeli assassination attempts, will be in a position to oversee all police, as well as civil and preventative security forces.
A former security officer who was dismissed for refusing to report for duty during the uprising against Israel, Samhadana was given the rank of colonel.
The task of the new force, to be made up of hundreds of volunteers, would be to support the security forces, which are dominated by the Fatah faction of the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas.
The announcement came amid tensions between Abbas, who is officially in charge of security responsibilities and appointments, and a Hamas government flexing its muscle.
The move infuriated the United States and Israel.
Security chaos
"We want to end the security chaos and illegal activity in the Palestinian territories," Siam told supporters in Gaza City.
"We need all people to support us in this mission."
Security chaos is rife in the Palestinian territories, where armed groups largely operate above the law and the authorities have proved incapable of acting on promises to rein in gunmen.
The interior ministry spokesman, Khalid Abu Hilal, said the new force would be made up of hundreds of fighters from the armed wings of all factions, and would support the work of police and security services.
They would not be paid a salary by the Palestinian Authority, which is in the midst of an acute financial crisis, but serve on a voluntary basis.
Asked if the new force would include members of Hamas' armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, Abu Hilal replied that it would consist of "all the factions".
The Qassam Brigades have carried out dozens of anti-Israeli suicide attacks over the past decade, although none in the past year. Hamas has been blacklisted as a terrorist organisation in the West.
US, Israeli rebuke
Washington and Tel Aviv, which are boycotting the Hamas-led government, were quick to denounce the appointment.
"This is just another window into the nature of this Hamas-led government and underscores the importance of the international community maintaining unity in sending a strong message to them to change," said the US state department spokesman, Sean McCormack.
He said the United States would hold the Palestinian government accountable for preventing acts of terror and for dismantling terror groups as required under agreements previous Palestinian governments have signed.
Gideon Meir, an Israeli foreign ministry official, echoed that.
"If someone needed proof about the connection between the Hamas rule and Palestinian terror, this appointment is the ultimate proof for this connection," he told the AP. "It's like allowing the fox to guard the chicken coop."
Islamic Jihad won't join
Meanwhile, Hamas' rival, Islamic Jihad, announced that it would not take part in the new force, with its spokesman, Abu Abdullah insisting that "our mission is to resist the Israeli occupation."
Jihad has been behind the last six other suicide bombings on Israel.
The group claimed responsibility on Monday for a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv that left six people dead and dozens wounded.
Rivalry
Security is a key battleground in tensions between the radical Islamist group and Abbas since Hamas' landslide election win in January that ended Fatah's decade-long domination of politics.
Abbas' response to growing mayhem in the territories has been to name the Fatah strongman in Gaza, Rashid Abu Shbak, as overall head of the myriad security forces, sparking complaints from Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniya.
"The government has been denied responsibility over security bodies, the borders and other powers, but it still needs to pay salaries," Haniya said on Friday.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/20E32014-CE16-40AD-BC03-4BF24DE0945E.htm
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Israel which has long sought to kill him.
Jamal Abu Samhadana, high on Israel's most wanted list as leader of the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), was appointed on Thursday to supervise the Interior Ministry and set up a new police force from militants to crack down on anarchy and chaos.
"Factions and security services should unite in one trench against the daily Israeli aggression against our people," Abu Samhadana told Reuters in an interview.
Israeli officials said Abu Samhadana was still in the army's sights despite his senior appointment in the government led by the Islamist Hamas movement.
The militant group, which is sworn to Israel's destruction, took office last month after winning a Palestinian parliamentary election in January which gave it control of the government.
Israel, which has killed dozens of militants in air strikes, has tried unsuccessfully to kill Abu Samhadana several times.
"We will continue to pursue him. He is a terrorist and the fact that he has received a senior role in the
Palestinian Authority does not make him immune," said a senior Israeli official who declined to be identified.
More
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060421/ts_nm/mideast_militant_dc_1
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas will cancel a senior security appointment made by the new Hamas-led government this week, a senior aide said on Friday, underscoring internal tensions.
On Thursday, the Hamas government appointed Jamal Abu Samhadana, a radical high on Israel's most wanted list, to supervise the Interior Ministry and set up a new police force from militants to crack down on anarchy and chaos.
The row over Samhadana's appointment threatens to widen Abbas's rift with the Islamic militant group, which has rejected the chairman's calls to pursue peace with Israel.
Senior Abbas aide Tayeb Abdel-Rahim said the chairman would send a letter to Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh.
"The letter will say this decision is illegal ... The president will issue a presidential order to cancel the appointment," Abdel-Rahim told reporters, without saying why the appointment was construed as illegal.
Under the Palestinian basic law, which functions as a constitution, the president has the power to veto senior government appointments.
Samhadana, the leader of the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), said Friday he would not abandon the fight against Israel.
He said his first order of business would be amalgamating militants in the security forces: "Factions and security services should unite in one trench against the daily Israeli aggression against our people."
"I will continue to hold the rifle and will pull the trigger whenever required to defend my people," he said.
More
The 45 -year-old, who has survived several Israeli assassination attempts, will control the new force. Samhadana was given the rank of colonel.
The move is considered a direct challenge to the authority of President Mahmoud Abbas, and was quickly denounced by Israel and the United States. Today, all the Palestinian security forces are under the control of Abbas, who is officially also in charge of security responsibilities and appointments.
"We want to end the security chaos and illegal activity in the Palestinian territories," Siam told supporters in Gaza City. "We need all people to support us in this mission," he added.
The interior ministry spokesman, Khalid Abu Hilal, said the new force would be made up of hundreds of fighters from the armed wings of all factions, and would support the work of police and security services.
"This is just another window into the nature of this Hamas-led government and underscores the importance of the international community maintaining unity in sending a strong message to them to change," reacted the US state department spokesman, Sean McCormack.
Israeli Foreign Ministry official Gideon Meir echoed that. "If someone needed proof about the connection between the Hamas rule and Palestinian terror, this appointment is the ultimate proof for this connection," he told the AP. "It's like allowing the fox to guard the chicken coop."
http://www.albawaba.com/en/news/197131
On Thursday, the Hamas government appointed Jamal Abu Samhadana to supervise the Interior Ministry and set up a new police force from militants to crack down on anarchy and chaos. Abbas made headlines on Friday by rejecting the appointment.
Late on Friday, Hamas government spokesman Ghazi Hamad told a news conference in Gaza the appointment of Samhadana would stand.
More
The feud, which turned into armed clashes at the weekend, began on Thursday, when by PA Interior Minister Said Sayem that he was setting up a new security force that would encompass the Hamas military wing. Sayem announced that he was appointing Abu Samhadana wanted for several high-profile bombings including a deadly attack on a U.S. diplomatic convoy in Gaza and attacks on IDF tanks in Gaza to a senior police post.
More