Lawlessness Has Abbas Going After the Law

Since Wednesday night's shooting attack, during which up to a dozen men opened fire in the fashionable Darna restaurant and sent customers diving for cover, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has sacked a top security commander and signed a law to push officers 60 and older into retirement to clear the way for an overhaul of Palestinian forces.

Abbas also assigned Palestinian officials to figure out how to disarm hundreds of fugitive militants sought by Israel and get them jobs in Palestinian security. At least some of the gunmen behind last week's attack on Darna and two other Ramallah restaurants belonged to the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, a fighting force tied to Abbas' dominant Fatah movement.

Spokesmen for the militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad said Monday that they would not disarm, and members of Al Aqsa appeared divided, Reuters reported. Getting the fugitives to disarm would first require a promise by Israel not to try to arrest the men, Palestinian officials said.

Though well short of the sweeping security reforms sought by Israel, the United States and others, Abbas' recent measures signal a newly aggressive stance against what many Palestinians see as a climate of growing lawlessness.

Much of the disorder has come at the hands of gunmen nurtured by Abbas' predecessor, Yasser Arafat, who died in November. Last week's shootings took place after gunmen wanted by Israel were ordered out of the Palestinian presidential compound here in Ramallah, where they had taken shelter while Arafat was alive. They first opened fire on the compound, known as the Muqata, then rampaged through Ramallah's streets.

Since taking office in January, Abbas has sought to avoid confronting the militants. He has instead opted to persuade them to quiet their weapons, as when the major factions agreed last month to an open-ended, conditional cease-fire against Israel.

The shooting incidents in Ramallah, Abbas' home and the seat of the Palestinian government, stunned residents.

Darna was known to be frequented by Palestinian Authority officials. Khalaf, the general manager, said a caller told him the next day that the shooting was intended to send a message to the government.