Palestinian Preventive Security, a key force in a struggle to stop militant violence, has a new leader, Rashid Abu Shbak, whose appointment reflects an effort by President Mahmoud Abbas to replace the cronies of his legendary predecessor, Yasser Arafat.
Abbas appointed Abu Shbak, 50, on Tuesday as commander of the elite force, another step toward streamlining and revamping the security branches. Before, Abu Shbak headed the Gaza section, separate from the West Bank force.
On Saturday, the Palestinian leader completed a key element of reform by consolidating the nine branches of his security service into three. He also signed off on the forced retirement of two leading security figures, who are to be among 1,150 eased out under a retirement plan announced earlier this month.
Trying to ease the blow to their prestige, Abbas on Tuesday offered 10 of the senior officers an award called the "Al Quds Medal," but several of them refused to accept it as a gesture of complaint against their dismissal.
The Israeli military is warning that Palestinian militants in the West Bank are planning a new round of violence in September or October, after Israel completes its withdrawal from Gaza, according to security officials.
The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the material, said there has been a sudden significant increase in arms smuggling from Egypt, and the arms are ending up in the West Bank.
On Tuesday the military said it is stepping up patrols along the 200km desert border. The officials said weapons seized in recent days include dozens of rifles and a shipment of high quality rocket-propelled grenades.
The officials said another round of violence is inevitable unless Abbas and his security forces take measures to stop the militants.
Arafat set up at least nine competing and overlapping security services and kept them all under his command, as a way of maintaining his one-man rule, playing competing strongmen off against each other.
Israel charged that many of the services were directly involved in Palestinian violence that erupted in 2000. Also, the Israelis banned all Palestinians from carrying weapons -- including police.
The combination of the internal conflicts and Israeli attacks reduced the Palestinian Authority's forces to near total ineffectiveness -- though Israel and the US continued to demand a crackdown on militant groups. In the absence of a central authority, armed gangs of militants took control of Palestinian streets and refugee camps.
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