Abbas Fires 4 Commanders After Attacks on Settlements

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas fired four security commanders and five of their subordinates in the Gaza Strip on Thursday after militants unleashed an hours-long barrage of mortar rounds and rockets at Jewish settlements.

The salvos dealt a blow to hopes for sustained quiet after a summit this week in Egypt.

Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, acted after the militant group Hamas said its fighters had launched dozens of mortar rounds and crude Kassam rockets at Gaza settlements. No injuries were reported.

The group said the attack was retaliation for the deaths of two Palestinians, including a man it said was shot by Israeli forces near an Israeli community in southern Gaza. Israel said its troops opened fire on suspected intruders.

Thursday’s barrage, two days after Israeli and Palestinian leaders vowed to end the violence, raised concern about Abbas’ ability to make good on the promise.

Also in Gaza on Thursday, armed men stormed a Palestinian prison, killing three people in what authorities said were revenge slayings by local clans.

Last month, Abbas persuaded several armed groups, including Hamas, to hold their fire as he negotiated with Israel on such issues as the release of Palestinian prisoners and Israel’s military presence in West Bank cities.

The violence lessened for a time. But after the cease-fire announced Tuesday by Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Hamas said it would not endorse the deal until Abbas consulted again with the militants.

Israeli officials were uncharacteristically tight-lipped about Thursday’s attacks, an indication that they viewed the situation as delicate. They appealed to U.S. and Egyptian officials to help Palestinian authorities end the assaults.

“We have said all along that the calm and cease-fire are very fragile,” said Cabinet minister Haim Ramon, a member of the left-leaning Labor Party. “It was also taken into account that it will take [Abbas] and his men in Gaza time to sort out Hamas, but his time is running out.”

Sharon warned last month that he had told the military to take “any action” to stop the firing of rockets and mortar shells, and the army prepared plans for possible retaliation.

Abbas said Thursday that he had ordered Palestinian security forces to prevent further assaults.

The Central Committee of Abbas’ Fatah faction issued a statement saying the attacks “harm the national interest of the Palestinian people and their cause.” Abbas took “a number of measures and decisions, including relieving a number of field security commanders of their duties.”

Palestinian officials privately identified those fired as Maj. Gen. Abdel Razek Majaydeh, chief of security forces; Maj. Gen. Omar Ashour, security commander for southern Gaza; his deputy, Brig. Gen. Hassan Annagar; and Maj. Gen. Saeb Ajez, the Gaza police chief. Five lower-ranking officers were also dismissed.

Palestinian officials have also charged that the Lebanon-based militant group Hezbollah is seeking to upend diplomatic efforts by encouraging attacks.

Abbas is to meet in Gaza in the coming days with representatives of Hamas and another militant group, Islamic Jihad.

Several analysts said the latest attacks by Hamas amounted to muscle flexing as the group angles for a wider role in Palestinian politics and pushes for Israeli concessions, such as the release of most or all of the approximately 8,000 Palestinians imprisoned in Israeli jails.

The show of force and Hamas’ refusal to back the cease-fire are part of a strategy to pressure Abbas for greater influence with the Palestinian leadership and enhance the group’s following at a time of flux, experts said.

“They’re trying first and foremost to preserve their relevance in the evolving situation,” said Anat Kurz, senior researcher at the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv University.

“On the one hand, they are not ready to lay down their arms,” Kurz said. “On the other hand, they are having consultations with people associated with the Palestinian Authority to understand the terms for gaining a formal role. They’re checking the possibilities.”

Abbas wants to draw Hamas, known formally as the Islamic Resistance Movement, into mainstream politics. The group’s leaders have been negotiating with him over how much clout they would have.

The militant group did well in recent municipal balloting and plans to take part in parliamentary elections this summer. It has joined the debate over how to distribute seats in the hope of gaining a large presence.

Ziad abu Amr, a Palestinian legislator who has acted as an intermediary in meetings between Abbas and the militants, said Hamas had made clear its desire for a bigger political role.

“There has been the discussion that they want to be part of the elections. We talked about power sharing through the [Palestinian Liberation Organization], questions of reform,” Abu Amr said.

In one capacity, Hamas is a vast social-welfare agency, running schools and health clinics and dispensing food to impoverished Palestinians, many of whom live in crowded refugee camps. But its military wing has carried out dozens of bombings and other attacks against Israeli troops and civilians.

Guy Bechor, an analyst at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, said Hamas wanted to establish a “balance of deterrence” with Israel under which any Israeli transgression would be met with force by Hamas.

He said the strategy, similar to that used by Hezbollah fighters in southern Lebanon in the 1990s, before Israeli troops withdrew from that area, could help preserve Hamas’ wide following if Israel pulls out of the Gaza Strip this year, as Sharon plans.

Bechor said Hamas hoped to portray the withdrawal as a military triumph over Israel.

“They want this balance to declare victory. So they hope Israel will accept the balance,” he said. “It is a very sophisticated game.”