Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat appointed on Monday Brig. Gen. Abdel Razeq el Majayda as the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) chief of Staff, well-informed Palestinian security sources said.

A spokesman for al Majayda's office told reporters that "President Arafat told Brig. Gen. al Majayda on telephone that his rank was promoted from being the chief of public security service chief to a Chief of Staff in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.  

The security sources said that General Musa Arafat who was nominated as the chief of public security services on Saturday would be in charge of the Gaza Strip, while General Isma'eel Jabber would be in charge of the public security in the West Bank. 

In addition to being in charge of Gaza Strip public security services, General Arafat would be keep serving as the chief of the Palestinian military intelligence.

The spokesman said that al Majayda was also nominated as a security advisor for Arafat and the PNA cabinet, adding that al Majayda got the same rank similar to a minister.

Such dramatic changes came apparently after the latest protests that dominated the Gaza Strip, and the pressure practiced on Chairman Arafat when Palestinian militants abducted French citizens and two top security officials.

Al Majayda said in a press conference that "President Arafat telephoned me personally and asked me to lead the Palestinian General Security in the West Bank and Gaza Strip."

He told reporters while a big picture of Arafat was hanged on the wall over his head "we go behind our president Yasser Arafat and behind any decision he made for the sake of the Palestinian people's interests."

"There were riots and troubles happened in Gaza over the past few days, and I'm sorry that it happened because we are confronting a furious enemy and therefore we should have been united against this enemy," said al Majayda.

He said that the Palestinians achieved victory after issuing the ruling of the International Court of Justice in The Hague, adding "we will be able to achieve more victories if we remain united."  

"We call upon every Palestinian to keep calm, drop the gun and follow a democratic dialogue instead of using the language of guns," said al Majayda.

(Xinhua News Agency July 20, 2004)