Arafat presents security plan to CIA chief

Yasser Arafat today presented a plan for reforming his security services to visiting CIA chief George Tenet, with the Palestinian leader proposing to halve their number and tighten supervision.

The make-over is part of a broader reform package sought by the US, which has called for greater democracy in the Palestinian Authority and a more effective fight against militants carrying out attacks on Israelis.

As part of the latest US moves in the Mideast, President George Bush also invited Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to Washington for their sixth meeting in just over a year.

The Bush-Sharon meeting at the White House on Monday comes after Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s visit to Washington.

At Arafat’s headquarters in the West Bank town of Ramallah, two dozen Palestinians chanted ‘‘Tenet go home’’ as the CIA chief’s convoy drove in.

The protesters said they opposed US involvement in internal Palestinian affairs.

Tenet’s visit was overshadowed by a Palestinian court decision yesterday to release Ahmed Saadat, the leader of a radical PLO faction that assassinated an Israeli cabinet minister.

Saadat is under British and US guard in the West Bank as part of a deal that led to Arafat’s release from 34 days of Israeli confinement on May 1.

The Palestinian Cabinet overruled the court later yesterday and said Saadat must remain in custody.

Israeli media said today that Israel had threatened to assassinate Saadat, head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and renew its siege of Arafat if Saadat was freed.

Israel accuses Saadat of having masterminded the assassination of hard-line Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi last October, but he has not be charged in a Palestinian court.

Arafat’s advisers said the Saadat case underscored the conflicting demands made of the Palestinian Authority - to carry out reforms, including the safeguarding of the independence of the judiciary, but also to rein in Palestinian militants.

In another development, Arafat renewed efforts to bring radical Palestinian factions into his government.

The four groups - Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the PFLP and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine - have rejected an earlier Arafat offer to join a new Palestinian Cabinet.

Under the new plan, a ‘‘Unified Palestinian Leadership’’ would be created, said Ahmed Abdel Rahman, an Arafat adviser.

This body would be in charge of future negotiations with Israel and other strategic issues, while the Cabinet would deal with the day-to-day running of Palestinian affairs.

Arafat’s security plan envisages four services - police, border guards, internal security and external security - plus military intelligence and Arafat’s personal guard unit.

Arafat named Abdel Razak Yehiyeh, 53, a former commander of the Palestinian Liberation Army - the name given to Palestinian forces in the years before peace talks with Israel - as head of the new security services.

While the number of services would be cut in half, the number of people serving would remain at the current level, said an official.

Yesterday, Tenet met Sharon who has told the Americans that Arafat is responsible for the 20 months of Mideast violence and must be replaced before any peace talks can begin.

In Israeli army activity overnight, troops entered the Askar refugee camp near Nablus, arresting dozens of Palestinians, witnesses said.

The army said it was arresting men suspected of involvement in terrorist activity.

Today, a column of Israeli armoured vehicles briefly drove into the West Bank town of Jenin. Tanks fired machine guns, but troops left after about an hour without making arrests, Palestinian witnesses said.