Palestinian Interior Minister To Resign

Palestinian Interior Minister Hani al-Qawasmi has submitted his resignation to Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh in the first sign of splintering in a month-old unity government, Palestinian officials said on Monday.

Qawasmi earlier this month launched a 100-day plan to rein in lawlessness in the Gaza Strip. One official said he had been frustrated by a lack of cooperation between Palestinian security chiefs.

It was not immediately clear whether Haniyeh, a Hamas leader, had accepted Qawasmi's resignation. One official said there was a chance he would remain in the post, which is supposed to oversee the Palestinian security services.

The departure of the interior minister, the most hotly contested position in the unity government, could jeopardise the already fragile power-sharing agreement between Hamas Islamists and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's secular Fatah faction.

Interior Ministry spokesman Khaled Abu Hilal said he could neither confirm nor deny that Qawasmi had quit.

Abbas and Haniyeh chose Qawasmi because he is seen as a political independent, not affiliated to either Hamas or Fatah.

In his first act after the unity government was formed on March 17, Abbas appointed one of Hamas's main rivals, Mohammad Dahlan, to serve as national security adviser, drawing fire from Hamas.

Some Palestinian analysts saw the appointment of Dahlan as a bid to sideline Qawasmi, an academic with no experience in security matters, minimising his control over the security services, which are mostly loyal to Fatah.

Both sides said the unity government deal was meant to end factional fighting. But tensions between Hamas and Fatah have remained high and lawlessness has spread, particularly in the Gaza Strip.

Hamas has been expanding its own "executive force", and has rejected demands by Fatah that it be disbanded or integrated into the overall security apparatus.

Fatah also has been bolstering its forces.

The United States has launched a $59-million programme to help strengthen Abbas's presidential guard, and Fatah recently sent about 500 fighters to Egypt for more advanced training.

Qawasmi is a father of five and scion of one of the largest Palestinian clans in Hebron, a city in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. (Reuters)