Jenin standoff ends peacefully
Militants challenged Palestinian interior minister
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JERUSALEM (CNN) -- A visit by Palestinian Authority Interior Minister Nasr Yousef prompted a brief but tense standoff Tuesday in Jenin when three militants from the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades fired guns into the air and Yousef ordered their arrests.
The incident ended when Zacharia Zebeideh, the Al Aqsa chief in Jenin, met with Yousef and said he had no problem with the interior minister, but was angry that the Palestinian Authority security chief in Jenin did not coordinate with him about Yousef's visit.
The incident highlighted the delicate relationship the Palestinian Authority has with Palestinian militant groups in the West Bank and Gaza.
The incident began when Zebeideh and two other Al Aqsa members fired guns into the air as Yousef was inspecting Palestinian Authority troops.
Zebeideh initially demanded that Yousef leave Jenin. Yousef responded by ordering his arrest. Zebeideh then met with Yousef to sort out the tense situation.
No one was hurt in the incident and no one was arrested.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, at a conference Tuesday in London, said that the Palestinian Authority had made a decision to unify all the Palestinian security forces.
While Abbas gave no details, Palestinian officials have said the security organizations will answer to Yousef, who in turn, answers to Abbas. (Full story)
The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades is a military offshoot of the Fatah movement and has attacked military and civilian targets in Israel and in Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Gaza. The U.S. State Department considers it a foreign terrorist organization.
