Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat appointed Mohammed Dahlan to the position of National Security Advisor on Wednesday evening, one month after Dahlan resigned as head of preventive security in the Gaza Strip.
Dahlan, who is considered the most powerful figure in the Gaza Strip, enjoys the support of a majority of Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction and has good relations with his Gaza replacement, Rashid abu-Shbiek. In the past month, Dahlan was in London.
Meanwhile, Palestinian security sources said Israeli armored vehicles and troops withdrew Wednesday from a building they had occupied close to Arafat's compound in Ramallah. The sources expected the siege around the compound to ease further, but did not elaborate.
Also in Ramallah, Palestinian information minister Yasser Abed Rabbo told a press conference Arafat had sent a message to the “quartet” warning that continuing security and other reforms "will not be possible if Israel continues the siege." Ministers from the so-called quartet of the United States, the EU, the United Nations and Russia are expected to meet in New York on July 15 to 16.
Washington must pressure Israel into changing its policy toward the Palestinians and require a lifting of the siege and three-week reoccupation of Palestinian areas that gained autonomy under the 1993 Oslo accords, Abed Rabbo warned. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
