RAMALLAH, West Bank, Aug 2 (AFP) - Prime minister Ahmed Qorei said on Monday that he would not tolerate any challenges to the Palestinian security forces after a weekend of violence which saw militants set fire to their local offices.
"We will not allow anyone, whoever they are, to attack our security forces," he told reporters after chairing his first cabinet meeting since he reversed his decision to quit over the spiralling security chaos in the Palestinian territories.
The latest sign of the disarray came over the weekend in the West Bank town of Jenin when members of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed offshoot of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, carried out arson attacks on the offices of the security services and of the local governor.
Qorei sought to play down the differences with Al-Aqsa, calling them a "part of Fatah" and insisting that the government took responsiblity for their security.
The premier said he had been briefed by the newly appointed police commander for the West Bank, Ala Hosni, who has named new senior officers for the towns of Ramallah, Bethlehem and Tulkarem.
"The government has accepted and welcomed these changes and wants to work with the institutions involved to make them a success."
"We know that the challanges are large and we ask everybody ... to work together in order to ensure stability," he added.
Qorei agreed to stay on in his post last week after submitting his resignation to Arafat 10 days earlier following an unprecendented spate of kidnappings in the Gaza Strip.