Abbas fires security chiefs for failure to curb lawlessness

April 2, 2005 Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas fired several security chiefs Friday for their failure to curb lawlessness in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The announcement comes a day after Tawfik Tirawi, head of Palestinian Intelligence in the West Bank, resigned, saying that too little was being done to curb lawlessness by other security chiefs.

Haj Ismail, head of Palestinian national security in the West Bank, also resigned Friday after Abbas called for his resignation.

Reuters quoted a Palestinian official as saying that Abbas "was not happy with the performance of some of the heads of security forces... and he will take other crucial measures in the near future."