Palestinian security chiefs rejected on Saturday Yasser Arafat's decision to appoint a new West Bank leader for their forces.
Palestinian sources said more than 100 top security officials refused in a meeting near Ramallah to accept the PA leader's appointment of Zuhair Manasra as Preventive Security chief in place of Jibril Rajoub.
Salah Tamaizi, head of Preventive Security in Ramallah, said the opposition was directed not just at the dismissal of Rajoub but at his replacement by a political appointment. "We hope that our leader President Arafat will change his mind about Rajoub, and even if he wants to replace Jibril, he should choose someone from within the ranks of the Preventive Security force," Tamaizi told Reuters.
Meanwhile, Egypt is sending envoys to Israel and the Palestinian territories to pull the region out of a crisis caused by Israeli policies, Egypt's Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher said. The visit "comes in the light of attempts to emerge from the crisis in the region caused by Israeli policies," Maher told reporters without naming the delegates.
Israeli public radio reported earlier in the day that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Defense Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer would host talks in Jerusalem Sunday with delegates sent by President Hosni Mubarak.
The Egyptian officials, Mubarak's political advisor Osama al-Baz and intelligence chief General Omar Soleiman, were also to meet Arafat in Ramallah, it added. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
