The Palestinian head of intelligence for the West Bank and Gaza Strip vehemently denied reports that Mr Yasser Arafat had signed a decree dismissing his West Bank intelligence chief General Tawfiq Tirawi.
"This is completely false. Tirawi is still head of Palestinian intelligence in the West Bank," Palestinian intelligence boss Amin al-Hindi said in a statement, responding to the news leaked by two senior Palestinian officials close to Mr Arafat.
"This information is part of a propaganda campaign."
Gen Tirawi himself also denied reports of his dismissal, slamming it as "incorrect news that is completely untrue". Earlier, two senior Palestinian officials, close to Mr Arafat told AFPthat the Palestinian leader had signed a decree dismissing Gen Tirawi but had not yet presented it to him.
Last week a similar situation occured when the then-head of preventive security in the West Bank, Colonel Jibril Rajoub, denied reports from senior Palestinian officials that he had been officially dismissed by Mr Arafat.
Despite his denials, Col Rajoub later accepted that he had been dismissed by the Palestinian leader, but hundreds of his supporters have vowed not to serve under Rajoub's successor.
Israel and the United States have been putting pressure on Mr Arafat to fire Gen Tirawi, whom they accuse of aiding and ordering anti-Israeli attacks.
Gen Tirawi had been involved in security talks with Israel before the breakdown of communications between the two sides with the start of the 21-month-old Palestinian uprising.
AFP