GAZA, April 21 (UPI) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas nullified a decision by the interior minister to appoint a wanted militant as general supervisor.
The move outraged Hamas, which stressed that Interior Minister Said Siyam has the power and jurisdiction to create a special force to consolidate security and order and to appoint Jamal Abu Samhadana, the commander of the Popular Resistance Committees, who is wanted by Israel, as general supervisor.
Hamas spokesman Adnan Asfour told United Press International, "it is the right of the interior minister to set up a force aimed at restoring security and order after the existing security services proved to be unable to fulfill their mission and lost the trust of the public."
A spokesman for Abbas, Tayeb Abdel Rahim, said earlier Friday that the president informed the prime minister of the Hamas-led government, Ismail Haniyeh, of the cancellation of the decisions announced Thursday by the minister of interior.
Sources in Haniyeh's office said the prime minister will hold an emergency meeting with his interior minister to consider Abbas' move.
Siyam said Thursday the special force will include elite security forces and fighters from the various Palestinian factions who will be under his direct control and whose main mission will be to quell disorder and crimes plaguing the Palestinian territories.
Abu Samhadana's appointment to supervise Palestinian security forces earlier infuriated Israel which tried without success to assassinate him several times in recent years.
Upon the announcement of his appointment, Abu Samhadana told journalists that the "mission in the next phase is to supervise the performance of security forces and secure order and the implementation of the law on all."
