PA leader Yasser Arafat announced several personnel changes in his government yesterday, although Israeli diplomatic sources are skeptical. \"Even if he did,\" one said, \"it is just a trick by Arafat to show that he is making reforms while he still can.\" Arafat says he fired Jibril Rajoub, head of the PA Preventative Security Force in Judea and Samaria, as well as Police Chief Ghazi Jabali, Civil Defense Leader Mahmoud Abu Marzouk, and Intelligence Chief Tawfiq Tirawi. Jabali will be replaced by his deputy, while a former Arafat military aide will fill Abu Marzouk\'s position. The Israeli source said that the changes are immaterial, \"as these are organizations that are infected by terrorism, and there will be no change as long as Arafat is still in charge.\"
Arutz-7 correspondent Haggai Huberman reports that it\'s still not clear, even in the IDF, if Arafat really fired them, plans to fire them, or merely said he plans to fire them: \"Arafat knows, however, that to fire Rajoub is almost a mission-impossible. Rajoub has built up a tremendous militia organization of people who are loyal to him, whose salaries he pays with his own sources, etc. I have been told that on Rajoub\'s wall there is not even one picture of Arafat, but only of Rajoub himself. It\'s true that his stature dropped recently when he allowed Israel to capture some Hamas terrorists, but not significantly so… Tirawi is a different story. He doesn\'t have his own organization, and he is very steeped in terrorism, thus that he could very well be a sacrifice to the American demands for reform.\"
The firings appear to improve the chances of Muhammad Dahlan, the former Gaza security service boss, to replace Arafat as head of the PA. Tel Aviv attorney Nitsana Darshan-Leitner has sent letters to U.S. government officials, warning them of what appears to be high American regard for Dahlan. The lawyer wrote that replacing Arafat with Dahlan would improve nothing, as Dahlan himself is also directly responsible for terrorism. Specifically, on November 20, 2000, Dahlan and his deputy Rashid Abu Shabak shocked much of the world by bombing an Israeli school bus outside Kfar Darom, killing two teachers and maiming three children of the Cohen family. Darshan-Leitner wrote, \"For the United States to promote a Palestinian law enforcement official who bombed an Israeli school bus and injured American citizens undermines President Bush\'s pledge not to do business with those compromised by terror.\" The letter also notes that Dahlan is currently providing shelter in Gaza to Hamas arch-terrorist Mohammed Deif.
Arutz-7 correspondent Haggai Huberman reports that it\'s still not clear, even in the IDF, if Arafat really fired them, plans to fire them, or merely said he plans to fire them: \"Arafat knows, however, that to fire Rajoub is almost a mission-impossible. Rajoub has built up a tremendous militia organization of people who are loyal to him, whose salaries he pays with his own sources, etc. I have been told that on Rajoub\'s wall there is not even one picture of Arafat, but only of Rajoub himself. It\'s true that his stature dropped recently when he allowed Israel to capture some Hamas terrorists, but not significantly so… Tirawi is a different story. He doesn\'t have his own organization, and he is very steeped in terrorism, thus that he could very well be a sacrifice to the American demands for reform.\"
The firings appear to improve the chances of Muhammad Dahlan, the former Gaza security service boss, to replace Arafat as head of the PA. Tel Aviv attorney Nitsana Darshan-Leitner has sent letters to U.S. government officials, warning them of what appears to be high American regard for Dahlan. The lawyer wrote that replacing Arafat with Dahlan would improve nothing, as Dahlan himself is also directly responsible for terrorism. Specifically, on November 20, 2000, Dahlan and his deputy Rashid Abu Shabak shocked much of the world by bombing an Israeli school bus outside Kfar Darom, killing two teachers and maiming three children of the Cohen family. Darshan-Leitner wrote, \"For the United States to promote a Palestinian law enforcement official who bombed an Israeli school bus and injured American citizens undermines President Bush\'s pledge not to do business with those compromised by terror.\" The letter also notes that Dahlan is currently providing shelter in Gaza to Hamas arch-terrorist Mohammed Deif.