The Palestinian president on Saturday has named a new security commander in a bid to block Hamas from building up its forces in the West Bank. The commander, Ismail Jaber, has been tainted by corruption and holds sway over key West Bank commanders.
Jaber's appointment came a day after Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahar, a top Hamas leader, said the Islamic resistance movement would beef up its militia in the West Bank. A Hamas official said they planned to recruit about 1,500 members there, according to the AP.
Under Abbas' new plan, Jaber will take command of all West Bank security forces, except for three branches that fall under control of the Hamas-run Interior Ministry.
In April 2005, Abbas forced Jaber and other senior officials into retirement as part of his efforts to root out corruption. Jaber was suspected of putting thousands of fictitious names on his payrolls and pocketing the money.
Jaber, who is in his 60s, was a top commander for the Palestine Liberation Organization in Lebanon during the 1980s, and later followed the late Yasser Arafat to the West Bank after the interim peace deals with Israel in the early 1990s. He served as Arafat's national security adviser and police chief in the West Bank.
© 2006 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
