Gaza Intelligence Official Wounded

In a brazen daylight attack, two carloads of gunmen sprayed bullets into a vehicle carrying the acting chief of Palestinian intelligence Wednesday in the Gaza Strip, seriously wounding him and killing his two bodyguards.

The attempt on the life of Tareq abu Rajab, a longtime ally of Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, could herald a new outbreak of internal Palestinian strife in Gaza, which was hit last month by a wave of lawlessness believed to have been orchestrated by foes of Arafat within his Fatah faction.

The Palestinian power struggle that already is playing out in Gaza is likely to intensify if Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is able to push through his plan to withdraw Israeli troops and Jewish settlers from the seaside territory by late next year.

Despite bitter opposition by settlers and from within his conservative Likud Party, the prime minister insists that the Gaza pullout will take place. Israel’s defense establishment promised this week to have a logistical blueprint for the withdrawal prepared within a month.

Among Palestinians, discontent with Arafat’s government is running high. The 75-year-old leader has promised to reform his Palestinian Authority, which is widely viewed as corrupt and undemocratic, but he has repeatedly failed to follow through on his pledges.

Such a scenario again appeared to be in the works. The Palestinian legislature Wednesday approved a package of reforms aimed at forcing greater accountability among senior officials. But lawmakers said Arafat had withheld his approval of the measures, making their implementation unlikely.

Nonetheless, the turmoil of recent weeks -- the most serious internal challenge to Arafat in the decade since the Palestinian Authority began its limited rule in the West Bank and Gaza -- has given rise to a high degree of frank public criticism.

“You stand in the way of separation of powers,” lawmaker Rafiq Natsheh told Arafat at Wednesday’s session, held in the shell-pocked Ramallah headquarters to which the Palestinian leader has been confined by Israeli forces for more than two years. “You prevent the government from carrying out its duties under the law.”

The Palestinian leader managed to defuse last month’s crisis by persuading his prime minister, Ahmed Korei, to rescind a proffered resignation and by getting one of Arafat’s chief challengers, former Gaza security chief Mohammed Dahlan, to attend reconciliatory talks this week. But most analysts said they believed the respite to the strife probably was a temporary one.

The significance of Wednesday’s attack against Abu Rajab was somewhat difficult to assess. The 59-year-old acting head of the general intelligence service was known to be on good terms with Arafat but was not considered part of his innermost circle.

Moreover, Abu Rajab had not been a particular object of wrath among anti-Arafat forces in Gaza. He had not been publicly denounced by them and had not been the target of the type of “warning” attack -- a firebombing or a brief abduction -- that typically precedes a factional killing.

Abu Rajab had been serving in an acting capacity since longtime intelligence chief Amin Hindi quit during last month’s roiling violence in Gaza. Arafat refused to accept the resignation, but Hindi has not resumed his duties.

No one claimed responsibility for the attack, which witnesses said appeared carefully coordinated. Two cars pulled up close to Abu Rajab’s two-vehicle convoy on a sand-lined stretch of roadway on Gaza City’s northern edge, and gunmen unleashed volleys of automatic weapons fire before their cars sped off in different directions.

Abu Rajab was taken to an Israeli hospital for treatment of a gunshot wound to the chest, and medical officials described his condition as serious.

Palestinian security officials said they had begun an investigation and pledged to punish those responsible.

“This is a crime to be condemned,” said Rashid abu Shbak, the head of preventive security in Gaza. “There must be decisive steps to stop the security deterioration.”

Times special correspondent Fayed abu Shammalah in Gaza City contributed to this report.