Sacked security chiegs defy Arafat

Curfews were lifted for longer periods in some places, and Israel said it would allow several thousand Palestinians in to work.

In a rare open challenge to Arafat’s authority, West Bank preventive security commander Jibril Rajoub and Gaza police chief Ghazi Jibali refused to leave office.

Although Rajoub pledged loyalty to Arafat, Israeli media reported that Rajoub’s backers were rejecting any other commander in his place, and Jibali reported to work as usual yesterday.

‘‘I will not leave my position until I get something official,’’ Rajoub told The Associated Press in an interview at his home in Ramallah. Rajoub’s security force is the strongest in the West Bank, and Rajoub’s power there is second only to Arafat’s.

Palestinian information minister Yasser Abed Rabbo said the steps being taken were part of a 100-day reform plan and are not meant as ‘‘punishment or measures taken against specific people’’.

He said Arafat issued orders yesterday to unify Palestinian Authority funds into a single bank account as part of the reform.

Israel and the United States have insisted that the Palestinians must streamline the multiple, overlapping security agencies and use them to prevent terror attacks against Israel. But Arafat had rocky relations with both security chiefs he dismissed, and the move was viewed as being at least partly related to internal Palestinian politics, rather than a move to reform the security forces.

Israel said it did not view the move as significant, with prime minister Ariel Sharon’s spokesman, Raanan Gissin, calling the moves ‘‘window dressing’’.

Defence minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer added, ‘‘The one and only step that will rescue the Palestinians will be if someone gets up and tells Arafat, simply, ‘Take yourself and move over and let others lead’.’’

But Arafat has given no indication that he will step down, and while many Palestinians have complained about their leaders, Arafat’s position still appears solid.

In Gaza City, thousands of Palestinians chanted slogans, carried banners and fired guns in the air during a march that expressed support for Arafat and denounced US president George Bush’s call to replace him.

‘‘We want everyone to know that Yasser Arafat is the only leader for this nation,’’ said Dieb al-Louh, a spokesman for Arafat’s Fatah movement. ‘‘We condemn all the American attempts’’ to replace Arafat.

This week thousands of impoverished Palestinians marched on Arafat’s compound in Gaza City to protest at their worsening economic conditions.

In the two weeks since Israeli forces moved into West Bank Palestinian cities to search for militants, the overall level of violence has dropped markedly. Fifteen Palestinians and no Israelis have been killed during that time.

But about 700,000 Palestinians in seven cities and towns have been under curfew, and have been able to leave their homes for only a few hours every third or fourth day to stock up on food. The conditions are widely seen as unsustainable over the long-term.

Sharon’s government approved a plan yesterday to lift daytime curfews in Palestinian areas that were quiet, and agreed in principle to allow up to 5,000 Palestinians to enter Israel to work each day.

Also, 10,000 Palestinians will receive permits to return to work at industrial parks near the lines between Israel and the Palestinian areas, said Israeli Col Shimshon Arbel.

Before the Palestinian uprising began in September 2000, about 150,000 Palestinians from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip entered Israel every day, most of them to work. Today, the number is close to zero.

In a sign of the new policy, the curfew was lifted yesterday for 11 hours in Hebron. In three other places, the curfew was removed for periods of five to 10 hours.

However, the curfew remained in place in three other areas, and Israel warned that any easing of restrictions must be matched by calm in Palestinian areas.