Palestinians approve new security plan

Ramallah: The Palestinian Cabinet yesterday approved a new security plan that is to include a joint operations room for rival security forces and an appeal to gunmen not to flaunt their weapons.

The plan is to be the centrepiece of cooperation between Hamas and the moderate Fatah movement.

However, details remained sketchy, particularly on whether Hamas' militia, formed last year, would be dissolved.

The forming of the militia, known as the Executive Force, had raised Hamas-Fatah tensions and helped trigger months of deadly infighting with Fatah-allied security forces.

Last month, Hamas and Fatah established a coalition government, based on a power-sharing deal brokered by Saudi Arabia.

However, the most explosive issue - control over the security forces - was not resolved in coalition talks, and it remains unclear whether the security plan is specific enough to end the rivalries for good.

Information Minister Mustafa Barghouti said yesterday that a joint operations centre would be set up for all the security forces. Also, President Mahmoud Abbas is to announce the formation of a new National Security Council in two days, Barghouti said.

The panel will include Prime Minister Esmail Haniya of Hamas, Abbas security adviser and Fatah strongman Mohammad Dahlan, as well as the independents in the key posts of foreign, finance and interior.

Education Minister Nasser Sha'er of Hamas suggested that the security forces would not seek a confrontation with Hamas and Fatah gunmen or other armed vigilantes. At best, the authorities would ask the factions not to flaunt their weapons in public.

Gaza: Civic staff strike sparks health fears

A municipal workers' strike left mounting piles of refuse in Gaza streets yesterday and officials said they feared a 'sanitary catastrophe' amid a continued western aid boycott of the Palestinian government. Thousands of municipal workers began a strike last week in protest at being unpaid for months by the Palestinian government, which is under a financial blockade led by the United States and Israel.

"When there is a strike, it brings us very near to a health, environmental and sanitary catastrophe," said Gaza City mayor Majid Abu Ramadan. "The threat is real." Residents said workers had not made garbage collections for almost a week. "My children have become sick because of the bad smell and the mosquitoes," said 50-year-old Abu Adel.

- Reuters