The Palestinian Authority was yesterday facing the most serious crisis since its inception, with armed men attacking offices belonging to its security apparatus in Gaza in protest over Palestinian leader Mr Yasser Arafat's appointment of a relative as his new security chief writes Peter Hirschberg in Jerusalem
Hospital sources in the southern town of Rafah said 12 men had been brought in suffering from gunshot wounds. The attacks followed a weekend of kidnappings, protests and resignations of senior political and security officials that threatened to plunge Gaza into anarchy.
Calling the situation "unprecedented chaos," Palestinian Prime Minister, Mr Ahmed Korei, submitted his resignation on Saturday. Mr Arafat rejected the resignation.
Militants are again demanding that Mr Arafat agree to significant reforms that would undercut his authority.
The catalyst for the latest round of discontent was Mr Arafat's decision on Saturday to appoint his nephew, Mr Mussa Arafat, as his new security chief in the Gaza Strip, following the kidnapping of two security officials and the abduction of four French nationals.
All were held hostage for several hours and then released by an armed group associated with Mr Arafat's ruling Fatah party. The abductions were widely understood to be a message to the Palestinian leadership that there is widespread discontent with a government that is perceived as corrupt and ineffective. After setting fire to Mr Mussa Arafat's intelligence headquarters in Khan Yunis in central Gaza early yesterday morning, militants associated with Fatah last night attacked another of his headquarters in Rafah.
Some Palestinian Authority leaders joined the street protests yesterday, demanding that Mr Mussa Arafat, whom they view as one of the more corrupt Palestinian officials, resign. By late last night, however, both Mr Yasser Arafat and his relative were refusing to accede to the demand. The commander of the Palestinian naval forces, as well as two other senior security officials, resigned in protest over Mr Arafat's appointment.
Palestinian deputy minister, Mr Sufyan Abu Zaida, called the appointment "infuriating".
"This shows disregard for people and their opinions. This is intolerable disregard, and in Gaza, thousands will rise up against this decision."
Mr Yasser Arafat, who is confined to his compound in the West Bank city of Ramallah by Israel, has promised reforms in the past, but many Palestinians are angered by the patronage and cronyism they say pervades the Palestinian Authority.
Some observers painted the clashes as a showdown between the generation of leaders headed by Mr Arafat, who returned to the Occupied Territories from Tunis a decade ago - from where they conducted the Palestinian struggle - and took over power, and the younger generation of leaders who have spearheaded the Intifada uprising and view the "old guard" as corrupt and out of touch.