by Adel Zaanoun
GAZA CITY, Aug 25 (AFP) - The acting head of the Palestinian intelligence services was seriously wounded Wednesday when gunmen ambushed his convoy and killed two of his bodyguards, underscoring a collapse of law and order in the territories.
The attack targetting Tareq Abu Rajab's convoy in Gaza City came as MPs demanded concrete reforms of the security services in a much-anticipated session of parliament in the West Bank town of Ramallah.
Rajab, 58, was hit in the chest in the attack near the Shatti refugee camp in the west of the city as his convoy headed towards his local headquarters.
The attack on the three-vehicle convoy appeared to have been carried out from inside the coastal refugee camp by three masked men who promptly fled the scene of the shooting.
Rajab was taken for treatment to Gaza City's main Al-Shifa hospital where two other bodyguards were being treated, one of whom was in a serious condition.
The sources said that one of the dead bodyguards, 27-year-old Khamis Abdel Jawad, was killed at the scene while a second, Samir Hijjo, 37, died of his injuries in hospital.
Rajab, 58, has been at the helm of the intelligence services since previous incumbent Amin al-Hindi resigned in July after a series of kidnappings in the territory.
The head of preventive security, General Rashid Abu Shabak, denounced the "cowardly crime" as he visited his colleague in hospital and promised that the perpetrators "will not escape punishment".
"The Palestinian Authority must take firm measures to put an end to this deteriorating security situation to which no Palestinian official is now immune," he added.
The attack served to highlight the breakdown of law and order in the territories, which also saw the overall head of the Palestinian police force briefly kidnapped in Gaza last month as well as arson attacks on government buildings in the West Bank.
Palestinian prime minister Ahmed Qorei submitted his resignation to veteran leader Yasser Arafat after last month's kidnappings, a move he retracted after deputies mediated an agreement between the two men.
The political turmoil has been seen as the biggest challenge to Arafat's authority since his return from exile a decade ago and has emboldened those calling for widescale reforms in his Palestinian Authority.
MPs called Wednesday for a wholesale reshuffle of Qorei's government as they endorsed the recommendations of a parliamentary commission which savaged the current government's performance in failing to address the security crisis.
Unveiling its list of recommendations, commission chairman Abbas Zaki underlined "the necessity to form a new government capable of confronting the challenges facing our people and our (Palestinian) Authority".
Zaki said that the commission viewed "favourably" a speech last week by Palestinian Authority chairman Arafat to the parliament in which he pledged to rectify "unacceptable mistakes" by instituting reforms and cracking down on corruption.
"This speech should be considered as a binding official document and the executive should ensure its implementation," Zaki added.
The commission also called on Qorei and the interior ministry "to put an end to the security" chaos in the Palestinian territories and pursue officials who had abused their authority.
Deputies in particular want Arafat to order probes into allegations of corruption and clearly lay down the division of powers in the multifarious security apparatus which Arafat is supposed to have streamlined.
Despite his speech last week, Arafat has so far rebuffed appeals by the commission to actually institute the reforms.
The collapse of security in Gaza comes as rival factions jockey for position ahead of next year's planned pull-out of Israeli troops and the 8,000 Jewish settlers living there.
A report in Wednesday's Yediot Aharonot daily said that a quarter of the settlers had informed the Israeli authorities that they were willing to leave voluntarily.
More than 2,000 of the settlers have made it clear through their lawyers that they will not oppose their departure and want to begin discussions on receiving advance payments of a compensation package, the paper said.
A source close to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon would not confirm the numbers but said the government wanted to compensate settlers who were looking to move as soon as possible.