TEL AVIV, Israel, April 21 (UPI) -- In another sign of the widening rift in Palestinian politics, President Mahmoud Abbas Friday cancelled the appointment of a new security chief that Interior and National Security Minister Said Siam appointed.
Abbas, of the nationalist Fatah Party, acted less than 24 hours after Siam, of the radical Islamic movement Hamas, announced the formation a new special security force that would comprise members of "the resistance fighters" to combat anarchy in the Gaza Strip.
In an address to families' elders and notables from all over Gaza Strip, Siam said the force would report directly to him, the Ramatan news agency reported.
He designated Jamal Abu Samhadana, one of the founders of the Popular Resistance Committees in the Gaza Strip as "inspector general of the Interior Ministry and the person in charge of rehabilitating the security services," according to Ramatan.
The move seemed to rival Abbas' appointment of Rashid Abu Shbak as security chief. Abu Shbak of Fatah, who was nominally under Siam but in fact answered to the president, headed the Preventive Security in Gaza. Abu Samhadana quit Fatah for Hamas.
Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, did not wait long. Friday morning the Presidency's Secretary General Al-Tyeb Abdel Rahim said Abbas had no advance knowledge of Abu Samhadana's appointment and would issue a decree revoking it.
Abbas then wrote Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh that the move contravened the law and that he would issue a presidential decree officially announcing the cancellation, the Maan news agency reported.
There is no question that the Palestinian Authority must clamp down on the rampant lawlessness and chaos in the Gaza Strip.
The Palestinian Center for Human Rights this week described one day's events there: At 9 a.m. on Tuesday four masked gunmen traveling in the center of the town of Dir al-Balah intercepted another sedan carrying two police officers.
"The gunmen forced the two police officers out of the car... handcuffed and blindfolded them, and then took them to an unknown location." They released them after 40 minutes but confiscated the car.
At 09:30 a.m. several gunmen fired at a member of the Preventive Security Service in the Jabalya refugee camp. "He was wounded by 4 live bullets to the legs," PCHR reported.
At noon, four masked gunmen kidnapped the son of the Director General of Agriculture in central Gaza Strip. They handcuffed and blindfolded him, took him to an unknown location, violently beat him and released him at about 1:30 p.m. in Rafah.
That evening, at least 10 gunmen kidnapped a brigadier general traveling in his jeep in the Nuseirat refugee camp. They beat him up and released him after three hours.
Retired Israeli Col. Moshe Elad recalled Abu Mazen had once offered Abu Samhadana the security job and was rebuffed.
Friday the Palestinian government's spokesman, Gazai Hamad, defended the appointment.
"He is the best man, a nationalist, a moderate, he thinks well, he has influence over people, and he wants to become part of the government and provide security," Hamad said.
In a radio interview Elad rejected a suggestion it might be a good idea to appoint a ruffian as the village's sheriff.
Abu Samhadana "lived by his sword since he was a child... He is a rare combination of a criminal, a security man who did every bad thing."
Abu Samhadana was allegedly involved in digging tunnels for smuggling contraband and arms, fired mortar bombs, Qassam rockets, and was involved in the assassination of an Israeli woman and her four daughters in May 2004.
Israeli officials believe his gang was behind the attack on a U.S. Embassy convoy in Gaza in October 2003. Three American guards were killed in that attack.
The Haaretz newspaper said his clan has unrivalled control over the southern Gaza Strip and his appointment was supposed to strengthen Hamas at Fatah's expense.
Abu Samhadana's new mandate was to stem unrest inside the Gaza Strip, not attacks on Israel. He appeared to well wishers in military fatigues and according to Ramatan said the government "has never asked us to stop firing rockets (against Israel). It emphasized to us that launching rockets or stopping them is up to the resistance leaders."
In an interview to Al-Alam TV last month he said Palestinians "must remain committed to the option of fighting and resistance... Do not give up your weapons, whatever the price may be. Continue to fight and to strike at your enemy wherever you can reach."
U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack criticized Samhadana's nomination as "another window into the nature of this Hamas-led government."
It underscores "the importance of the international community maintaining unity in sending a strong message to them to change," he said.
In Israel, Minister Zeev Boim, who until recently was Deputy Defense Minister, said Abu Samhadana was "an arch-murderer" and having him impose law and order is like having the cat watch over the milk.
"We have a long account with that murderer... Sooner of later we'll have to lay our hands on him... He's got no immunity."
Elad said the Fatah-Hamas differences underscore the existence of a double-headed Palestinian administration.
Eventually it would deteriorate to armed clashes, he predicted. "At some stage we'll see street battles because the issue is (who) controls the heart of (the system) that effectively controls the territories."
The Israeli Maariv newspaper Friday quoted "a senior security source" as noting that Fatah and Hamas each control thousands of gunmen. "Abu Mazen understands that Hamas is endangering him and Hamas understands Fatah can topple it. The road from here to a flare up is not long."
