Divisions emerge among Palestinians

GAZA CITY -- The new Palestinian prime minister said yesterday that his Cabinet would take control of the Palestinian security forces, putting his Hamas-led government on a collision course with President Mahmoud Abbas.

Deepening the tension, Abbas installed a longtime ally as head of the three security branches in a battle for control of the 58,000-member police force, and he told Hamas it had to clear all foreign policy moves with him.

Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said he rejects any attempts to take power away from Hamas, which won Jan. 25 parliamentary elections. His Cabinet was sworn in last week.

''There are attempts to create parallel frameworks to some ministries in the Palestinian government," Haniyeh said in an interview at his Gaza City headquarters. ''But I don't think [Abbas] can keep up this pressure and take away power from this government."

Abbas's actions appeared aimed at convincing the international community that he, not Hamas, is in charge. Western donors have threatened to cut off aid if Hamas does not renounce violence and recognize Israel's right to exist, conditions the Islamic militant group has rejected.

Abbas, a moderate who was elected president last year, retains wide powers. He is the head of the National Security Council, which has final say over the Palestinian security forces, and he can issue wide-ranging decrees that do not need parliamentary approval.

Haniyeh said Abbas had assured him the security forces would remain under the control of the Hamas-led Cabinet, which, he said, did not take power ''on the back of a tank" but in ''transparent and fair elections."

But hours later, Abbas appointed a longtime ally, Rashid Abu Shbak, to head the three security services that fall under Interior Minister Said Siyam, in addition to agencies already under the president's authority. Though Siyam would report to Abu Shbak, any dispute between the two would be resolved in the Abbas-headed National Security Council.

Abu Shbak said he was authorized to hire and fire officers in the three security branches.

''Any recruitment of directors or deputy directors for any of the three services will be made through me," he said. His appointment reduced Hamas's authority over the security apparatus to cutting checks for its officers.

Security officers on the streets of Gaza and the West Bank, many of whom came from the ranks of Abbas's Fatah Party, were divided on whom they would side with in a fight for their loyalty.

Ahmed Abu Sayah, a member of the preventive security service, which was responsible for a 1996 crackdown on Hamas, said he would not accept a Hamas leader. ''We hate them and they hate us," he said.

Mohammed Barham, a police officer in Nablus, said that though he was in Fatah, he would take orders from whoever is in charge. ''By law, the interior minister is the boss and that is acceptable to me," he said.

Also yesterday, the Palestine Liberation Organization, which Abbas heads, ordered the Hamas-led Foreign Ministry to coordinate with it before making major pronouncements on diplomatic policy. The PLO is technically in charge of the Palestinians' foreign affairs.

Abbas has said he wants to resume peace talks with Israel, which has shunned the Hamas government, and Haniyeh said he would not stand in the way of those talks.