Arafat Presents Palestinian Security Plan to Tenet
The Palestinian leader appointed a 73-year-old general to head the new security array, but Israel said the proposed changes are largely cosmetic because Arafat, who has done little to rein in militants in the past, remains in charge. Some Palestinians also were skeptical, because the reform would still leave six different security branches.

The plan presented to Tenet calls for cutting in half the number of Palestinian security services. After restructuring, there would police, border guards, internal security and external security, military intelligence and Arafat's personal guard unit.

Israel was skeptical. ``Reforms that have no substantial change in strategy and policy are ... worthless,'' said Raanan Gissin, a Sharon adviser. Israel accuses Arafat of doing little to stop attacks or actually encouraging militants.

Palestinian officials said the new security chief is to be Maj. Gen. Ahmed Razak Yehiyeh, who was the commander of the Palestine Liberation Army before Arafat and his leadership returned to Gaza in 1994 and set up the Palestinian Authority. The PLA operated in Lebanon and other Arab countries as the military wing of Arafat's PLO.

Since 1994, Yehiyeh has not had a field command. Instead, he has been in charge of the Palestinian delegation in a joint council with Israel, designed to deal with security problems, a body that has met only rarely in recent years.

Yehiyeh's appointment was seen as a slap in the face to several current commanders, especially Dahlan, the powerful Gaza chief, who was hoping to take overall command. Some Palestinians said Arafat's appointment of the elderly general was a way of maintaining control himself.

Haider Abdel Shafi, a veteran Palestinian opposition figure and anti-corruption crusader, said the appointment ``disturbs me very much.''

In the West Bank, Israeli troops raided several Palestinian areas in search of suspected Palestinian militants. In one confrontation, a 16-year-old Palestinian was shot and killed by soldiers dispersing stone throwers, doctors said.

Near Nablus, Israeli soldiers opened fire at an armored vehicle carrying two photographers from the Reuters news agency. No one was hurt, but the vehicle was slightly damaged. The photographers said the vehicle was clearly marked as a press car. The Israeli military told Reuters it would check the incident, but the vehicle was apparently in a closed military zone.

Sharon reluctantly approved building a fence 65 miles long between part of the West Bank and Israel's narrowest sections, blocking the way from Palestinian towns on the unmarked line and Israeli cities a few miles away.

The cities, including Netanya and Hadera, have been frequent targets of Palestinian bombers, and residents have been pressuring their government to block access.

The fence is to run 68 miles from a point northeast of Tel Aviv to southeast of Haifa, a stretch of country parallel to the Mediterranean Sea. At some points, Israel's narrow coastal strip is only nine miles wide.

Gissin said work on the fence has begun. He said it would be a combination of different types of obstacles.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Israel-Palestinians.html