Abbas to sack two security commanders

Hamas reportedly demanded that Tirawi and Ali be dismissed in order to aid truce efforts with Fatah.

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
abbas great 224.88 (photo credit: AP)
abbas great 224.88
(photo credit: AP)
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has decided to replace two PA security commanders who have been working to prevent Hamas from extending its control from the Gaza Strip to the West Bank, sources in Ramallah said Tuesday. The decision sparked tensions between Abbas and the two security commanders, Tawfik Tirawi, head of the General Intelligence Service, and Diab al-Ali, head of the National Security Force, the sources added. Senior PA officials refused to comment on the issue. But one PA official told The Jerusalem Post that Abbas later decided to "temporarily freeze" his decision to replace the two men because of the tensions. According to the sources, Tirawi and Ali rejected Abbas's decision to replace them, prompting some PA officials to describe them as "rebels." Tirwai, in a phone conversation with the Bethlehem-based Maan news agency, would neither confirm nor deny that he had been asked to step down. Abbas's decision came following reports according to which Hamas had demanded that the PA president dismiss his top security commanders in the West Bank to pave the way for the success of Egyptian efforts to end the Hamas-Fatah power struggle. Tirwai and Ali are responsible for the PA's massive crackdown on Hamas figures and institutions in the West Bank. Their forces have arrested over 1,500 Hamas members and supporters in the West Bank in the past two years, according to statistics released by Hamas. However, a top PA official strongly denied that the decision was linked to Hamas. The official said that the two commanders were anyway supposed to retire in the coming weeks after both had reached the age of 60. Tirawi is one of the few security commanders who have been in their positions since the establishment of the PA in 1994, while Ali was appointed by Abbas recently.