RAMALLAH, Oct 3: The Palestinian parliament on Monday ordered leader Mahmud Abbas to appoint a new government because of the current regime’s failure to impose order on spiralling chaos in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The surprise vote came shortly after dozens of armed policemen burst into parliament to protest against massive insecurity one day after the first deadly internecine clashes since Israel left the Gaza Strip last month.

Deputies voted overwhelmingly by 43 to five in favour of forcing Abbas to reshuffle his cabinet within two weeks, although the Palestinian Authority president is not obliged to fire his prime minister Ahmed Qorei.

MPs considered but discarded a formal censure motion against the government which would have seen Qorei, who is currently abroad, step down immediately.

A committee of MPs earlier presented a damning report that interior minister Nasr Yussef had ‘failed in his mission’ and recommended all ‘incompetent’ security chiefs be sacked.

Many observers believe Qorei has been living on borrowed time since late February when he only managed to scrape parliamentary approval for his cabinet, which is stuffed with technocrats.

Despite pledges by Qorei and Abbas to tackle the growing lawlessness in the Palestinian territories, where kidnappings and armed clashes are becoming increasingly frequent, the situation has worsened in recent weeks.

Three people, including a policeman, were killed and more than 50 wounded in Gaza City late Sunday during clashes which exposed the burgeoning tensions between Palestinian security forces and Hamas.

Hamas and other armed factions have repeatedly refused demands to disarm, claiming they will only do so when Israel has left all Palestinian territory despite Israel’s landmark departure from the Gaza Strip on September 12.

Abbas is acutely aware that failure to put the Gaza Strip in order will weaken international support for the creation of an independent state also incorporating the occupied West Bank.

He described Sunday’s events as a ‘catastrophe’ and reiterated his will to put an end to the ‘phenomenon of carrying weapons’.—AFP