Arafat removes cousin as security chief

The Palestinian leader phoned Abdel Razek Majaide and asked him to return to the office he left last week at Arafat's request, said Nabil Abu Rdeneh, a senior Arafat adviser.

Arafat took the decision to calm the anger that has spilled into the streets of Gaza over the appointment of Moussa Arafat as security chief in the Gaza Strip, Rdeneh said. Opponents claimed the appointment perpetuated a system of corruption and cronyism endemic among the Palestinian leadership.

As head of the Public Security Directorate for all Palestinian territories, Majaide became Moussa Arafat's superior officer in the formal chain of command. However, it was unclear whether Majaide, who was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general, will have real authority over Moussa Arafat's operations in Gaza.

In Gaza City on Monday, supporters of Moussa Arafat marched through the streets pledging their loyalty.

The turmoil came as Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon planned to withdraw from Gaza next year, intensifying a struggle for power and influence among the various Palestinian factions.

Sharon, meanwhile, was trying to shore up his shaky government, also weakened by internal opposition to the Gaza pullout. Coalition negotiations between Sharon's Likud Party and the moderate Labor Party began Sunday and were to continue Monday, according to a statement from Labor Party leader Shimon Peres.

The Palestinian unrest began after Arafat decreed a consolidation of about a dozen disparate security branches into three services a key element of reform that the United States and Egypt have said would be necessary to revive deadlocked peace efforts. But the Palestinian leader defied international peacemakers by declining to put the security forces under the control of the Cabinet, and by naming his cousin as security chief.