Jibril Rajoub, the former head of preventive security in the West Bank, said Monday Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat had appointed him to restructure the security apparatus.
Rajoub said Arafat had placed him in charge of revamping the multi-headed security services.
"The National Security Council will be in charge of restructuring the security organization and in charge of putting out general plans and overseeing and coordinating the relationship with the quartet," Rajoub, who was fired by Arafat a year ago, told AFP.
Arafat will remain the head of the security council but Rajub will be the guiding influence, he added.
Arafat and Rajoub have grown closer in recent months as the rival team of PA Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas and PA Minister for Security Affairs Mohammed Dahlan has tried to establish its supremacy in security affairs. Rajoub has refurbished his Ramallah offices, which were bombed by Israel, and has begun receiving visitors there.
Rajoub in the past, mainly in 1996 and 97, ordered his forces to clamp down on members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad to stop them attacking Israel.
He has criticized Palestinian attacks inside Israel, which he argued harm rather than help the Palestinian cause.
Israel expelled Rajoub to Lebanon in 1988 for activities in the first uprising. In May 2001, three Israeli shells hit Rajoub's home but he escaped. (Albawaba.com)
© 2003 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
