The Palestinian Authority has announced it arrested fifteen members of its own security forces as part of a crackdown on attacks against Israel.
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Palestinians chant slogans in support of Palestinian leader Mr Yasser Arafat during a protest in the West Bank town of Ramallah yesterday.
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It marked the first time in nearly 16 months of fighting that Palestinian leader, Mr Yasser Arafat, has ordered the detention of Palestinian policemen on suspicion they were involved in attacks on Israelis.
As part of the crackdown, Palestinian police in Gaza also closed six offices of the Islamic militant group Hamas late yesterday.
The offices were centres for youth, political and social activities. Hamas has carried out dozens of attacks, including suicide bombings, in Israel in recent years.
A Palestinian security chief in Gaza, Mr Mohammed Dahlan, said the Palestinian Authority would not tolerate independent action by the militants.
Israel's armed forces chief, Lieutenant General Shaul Mofaz, said yesterday that of 242 people killed on the Israeli side since September 2000, at least 80 were killed by Palestinian security forces.
The arrests followed a weekend speech by Mr Arafat in which he called for an end to attacks on Israel, including suicide bombs, referring to them as "terrorist activity" for the first time.
Israeli security sources, meanwhile, reported a dramatic drop in Palestinian violence, and the Israeli military noted only three relatively minor incidents overnight, including shooting on an Israeli army post in Gaza in which no one was hurt.
AP