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.
On Friday, Rashid Abu Shbak, the Gaza preventive security chief, and Amin Hindi, the general intelligence chief, submitted their resignations to Arafat, complaining of chaos in Gaza and the authority's failure to make reforms, an official said.
The shadowy Jenin Martyrs' Brigades claimed responsibility for kidnapping police chief Jabali in a road ambush, saying it was a response to years of inaction by the Palestinian Authority over what it called his misdeeds. Palestinian officials have said constant Israeli raids and military clampdowns have hindered his ability to make reforms.
Armed supporters of Mussa Arafat, who will retain his current position as head of military intelligence in the Gaza Strip, fired in the air in Gaza City in celebration at his appointment as head of the national security forces in the area.
But a spokesperson for the militants who kidnapped Jabali condemned the president's move. "With all due respect to President Arafat, the Palestinian Authority cannot remain to be monopolised by Arafat and his relatives," Abu Iyad said. "We have our own ways to show our rejection."
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