Abbas sacks security chiefs after mortar attacks

MAHMOUD Abbas yesterday sacked three of his own security chiefs after Palestinian militants broke a ceasefire he had agreed with Israel by bombarding Jewish settlements in Gaza with mortars.

The attacks prompted Israel to halt security co-ordination talks scheduled as a follow-up to Tuesday’s groundbreaking summit in Egypt.

An Israeli official said troops would not retaliate after about 50 mortar bombs and rockets hit settlements in Gaza.

There were no casualties in the attacks by militants who have refused to participate in the Palestinian president’s ceasefire gesture, and plans for Mr Abbas to reconvene with Ariel Sharon at the Israeli prime minister’s desert ranch next week, remain in place.

A Palestinian official said that Abdel-Razek al-Majaydeh, the public security chief for the West Bank and Gaza, Saeb al-Ajez, the Palestinian Authority police chief, and Omar Ashour, the commander of the security forces in the southern Gaza Strip, were all dismissed.

Hamas, which with other militant groups had maintained a tacit truce for weeks to give Mr Abbas a chance to start negotiating with Israel, insisted it was not defying Mr Abbas with the mortar salvoes but only responding to Israeli "aggression".

Mr Abbas’s office said: "President Abbas has given orders to security chiefs to assume their responsibility to prevent any breach in the agreements to protect the national interest."

However, in another reminder of the armed chaos challenging Mr Abbas, dozens of gunmen including Hamas militants stormed a Gaza City prison yesterday and shot three inmates dead in a settling of scores between feuding clans.