The decision of Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat to appoint Maj. Gen. Ahmed Razak Yehiyeh, 73, as overall commander of the six surviving security forces has been causing internal turmoil. Gaza security chief Mohammed Dahlan, who had hoped to win the post, turned in his resignation to Arafat.
Palestinian officials said Arafat offered Dahlan the post of security adviser, but Dahlan would take a two-week break to consider his next move.
Yehiyeh was the commander of the Palestine Liberation Army that operated in Lebanon and other Arab countries before 1994, when Arafat set up the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Gaza in the framework of interim peace accords with Israel. Yehiyeh was involved in security negotiations with Israel in the meantime. (Albawaba.com)
