Ramallah - Ahmed Korei, the Palestinian prime minister, submitted his resignation to President Yasser Arafat on Saturday night after complaining of unprecedented chaos in Gaza following kidnappings by gunmen demanding reforms.
Arafat refused to accept Korei's resignation and the prime minister convened the cabinet to discuss his next moves, said Saeb Erekat, the negotiations affairs minister.
A sense of growing anarchy gripped the Gaza Strip, where militants calling for anti-corruption measures in the security services abducted four French aid workers and two Palestinian officials, including the area's police chief, on Friday.
All were released unharmed. Arafat, in apparent response to the gunmen's demands, fired the police commander, Ghazi al-Jabali, appointed a cousin, Major General Mussa Arafat, as overall security chief for Gaza, and announced its 12 security services would be combined into three.
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Facing growing criticism at home and abroad over his failure to overhaul security forces and other institutions after nearly four years of Israeli-Palestinian violence, Arafat has made similar unification pledges before but taken no action.
The abductions reflected a growing challenge to Arafat from militants trying to strengthen their position before Ariel Sharon, the Israeli prime minister, carries out a planned withdrawal of troops and settlers from the Gaza Strip by the end of next year.
Speaking to reporters in the West Bank city of Ramallah, before news of his resignation, Korei said Gaza - where the Palestinian Authority declared a state of emergency - was in "an unprecedented state of chaos".
Some Palestinians worry lawlessness may only intensify as militant groups and security services jockey for position to fill the vacuum after any evacuation of Jewish settlements.
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