Palestinian Government Shows Strains as Interior Minister Seeks to Quit

JERUSALEM, April 23 -- The first cracks in the Palestinian unity government appeared Monday when the independent interior minister, who has been trying to tame lawlessness in the Gaza Strip, submitted his resignation.

Hani al-Qawasmeh, the consensus choice for the post in a power-sharing government that brings together the Islamic Hamas and secular Fatah movements, has told Palestinian officials he is frustrated by a lack of cooperation from Fatah-controlled security forces loyal to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

But Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas declined to accept his resignation, averting for the moment a destabilizing departure little more than a month after the power-sharing cabinet took office.

Qawasmeh's move to resign reflects the intensifying contest between Hamas and Fatah for control of the security services, a struggle the Bush administration has joined by approving $43.4 million in nonlethal aid to strengthen Abbas's presidential guard.

Qawasmeh's frustration also points to enduring political rivalries that could shatter the arrangement reached by Fatah and Hamas leaders in February to end a year of deadly partisan fighting.

Qawasmeh, an Interior Ministry worker, was selected for the leadership post with Hamas's backing and began a 100-day plan to bring order to Gaza. The strip has been the venue for the most intense fighting between Fatah and Hamas, which formed its own security branch from members of its military wing after taking power following January 2006 elections. Hamas fighters have generally prevailed in the partisan clashes.

Abbas named Mohammed Dahlan, Fatah's most powerful figure in Gaza, as his national security adviser soon after the unity government took office. Dahlan created the powerful Preventive Security Service in the 1990s, and used it to counter Hamas members opposed to the 1993 Oslo peace accord that Fatah signed with Israel.

The Hamas Web site, quoting unnamed senior party sources, said Qawasmeh is angry over a lack of cooperation from Rashid Abu Shbak, a Dahlan ally who heads the Preventive Security Service.

Resolving the crisis "will depend on whether it is Abu Shbak, other security chiefs, or if it is structural," said Saeb Erekat, a Fatah ally of Abbas who helped negotiate the unity government.

Meanwhile, BBC correspondent Alan Johnston, 44, remains missing after being kidnapped in Gaza 44 days ago. Also, Palestinian gunmen fired at least six crude rockets into Israel over the weekend.