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Arafat Removes West Bank Security Chief in Shakeup
Thursday, July 4, 2002
(4:38 PM ET)
By Nidal al-Mughrabi
Reuters

An Israeli soldier directs Palestinians to line up to be verified at Bethlehem's Al Khader checkpoint July 4, 2002. The Israeli army eased the curfew during the daytime in some of West Bank cities but kept tight control at the checkpoints.
Image Credit: Magnus Johansson -- Reuters.

Disarray in the Palestinian hierarchy overshadowed a relaxation of curfews in four of seven West Bank cities. Palestinians emerged from their homes to try to stock up on supplies before the army reimposed curfews by nightfall.

GAZA -- Reuters
Palestinian President Yasser Arafat formally sacked his security chief in the West Bank on Thursday, aides said, in the first signs of a high-level shakeup carried out under intense U.S. pressure for reform.

But political upheaval within the Palestinian ranks was quickly overshadowed by violence at home and abroad.

A car bomb killed two suspected Palestinian militants in Gaza in an attack their comrades called an Israeli "assassination," and thousands of miles away at Los Angeles airport, two people were shot and killed at the ticket desk of Israel's El Al airlines.

Israeli Transport Minister Efraim Sneh said the shooting spree was believed to be a "terrorist attack."

Initial reports said a man had walked up to the Israeli airline's ticket counter and fired a shot at a clerk, then opened fire on other people in the international terminal.

Airport security officials then opened fire themselves, apparently shooting dead the assailant, police said. The number of wounded was not immediately known.
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2002 © Reuters, Ltd.

Dan