GAZA, May 7: Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas gave a key aide broader powers to curb anti-Israel attacks on Wednesday, loosening Yasser Arafat’s security grip in line with demands by international peace mediators.

In new bloodshed, an 18-month-old boy was killed by Israeli gunfire as he played outside his home in a Gaza refugee camp and a Hamas militant died in an unexplained explosion in the West Bank, witnesses said.

An internal memorandum obtained by Reuters said Abbas authorised cabinet minister Mohammed Dahlan, who has clashed with Arafat in the past, to restructure the Palestinian Authority’s interior ministry.

The decision makes Dahlan de facto interior minister with greater control over Palestinian security services intended to rein in militant groups under a US-led “roadmap” to Middle East peace, Palestinian officials said.

On Tuesday night, Abbas proposed giving Dahlan the interior ministry outright, but Arafat, who is Palestinian president, rejected the idea, an official said.

Abbas has held the portfolio since he took office on April 30, while Dahlan had a lesser job as minister responsible for internal security. Dahlan now gets control of the ministry without the official title.

“Dahlan is now carrying out the missions of a minister of the interior. He is in complete control over security agencies,” a Palestinian official said.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell is due to visit the region on Saturday to promote the roadmap backed by the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations.

Israel and the United States view Arafat as complicit in anti-Israel violence. Arafat denies the charge.—Reuters