Growing Palestinian Power Struggle?

New Palestinian PM Won't Cede Authority To Abbas On Security Forces

(CBS/AP)  However, Mohammed Barham, a police officer in the West Bank city of Nablus, said he would take orders from whoever is in charge.

"I belong to Fatah and I work in the Palestinian police. By law the interior minister is the boss and that is acceptable to me. I will do all that I am asked to by my bosses," he said.

Also Thursday, the Palestine Liberation Organization, which Abbas heads, ordered the Hamas-led Foreign Ministry to coordinate with it before making major pronouncements on diplomatic policy. The PLO is technically in charge of the Palestinians' foreign affairs.

Haniyeh told AP that Abbas, "as the head of the Palestinian Authority and the PLO, can move on political fronts and negotiate with whomever he wants. What is important is what will be offered to the Palestinian people." His comment appeared to open the door for Abbas to hold talks with Israel.

Abbas' actions were part of an effort to avoid Western sanctions on the Palestinian Authority, said Khalil Shahin, a political analyst with the Palestinian Al-Ayyam newspaper:

"I predict that he will keep stripping Hamas of more of its authorities, particularly on the financial ministries and other bodies responsible for infrastructure and the security," he said. "(Abbas) is trying with these measures to spare the Palestinian people more suffering and more sanctions."

The moves consolidating power under Abbas, who is known by the nickname Abu Mazen, are a reversal of the reforms undertaken during the reign of late-President Yasser Arafat, to move many of the president's powers to the Cabinet.

"We are moving now from the mixed parliamentary and presidential regime to a presidential regime similar to that of the Arafat era," Shahin said. "The problem would appear after the Abu Mazen era. We will be afraid of having another president who is a dictator."

In his interview with AP, Haniyeh denounced Israel's plans to unilaterally determine its future borders with the Palestinians if it deems that negotiations won't work.

Haniyeh said there has been no change in his group's refusal to recognize Israel, renounce violence and respect all past accords signed by the Palestinian Authority — the three conditions Israel and the United States have imposed for dealing with Hamas.

At the same time, he struck a conciliatory tone when speaking about the United States, saying, "we don't want feelings of animosity to remain in the region, not toward the U.S. administration and not toward the West."

Haniyeh said his government could overcome a crippling financial crisis by appealing to Arab and Muslim donors. However, those countries have yet to make specific new aid commitments and have fallen far short of meeting their past commitments.