Abbas fires top Gaza security commanders

JERUSALEM -- Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas fired top Gaza security commanders Thursday, Palestinian officials said, hours after militants fired dozens of mortar shells and homemade rockets at Jewish settlements there, breaking a 2-day-old cease-fire.\nAn official said on condition of anonymity that Abbas dismissed chief of public security Brig. Gen. Abdel Razek Majaidie, police chief Saeb al-Ajed, three other senior commanders and several lower-ranking officers.\nPalestinian Cabinet Secretary Hassan Abu Libdeh said Abbas took "punitive measures against officers who did not undertake their responsibilities, which led to the latest developments in Gaza," dismissing several commanders and accepting the resignations of others.\nThe dismissals came hours after Abbas ordered security forces to stop militants from firing mortars and rockets at Jewish settlements in Gaza. Despite a cease-fire declared Tuesday, Hamas militants launched more than 30 mortars and rockets at settlements Thursday, causing no casualties or damage.\nMilitants also stormed a prison in Gaza, freeing Hamas suspects.\n"These are very dangerous developments, and they violate the legitimacy of the Palestinian Authority," Abu Libdeh said. "No one can continue with these violations."\nAbbas is committed to reforming the competing and overlapping Palestinian security forces. Last month, he ordered that more than 1,000 veteran officers be retired.\nThe flare-up in violence has presented the first serious test to the truce declared by the Israeli and Palestinian leaders this week. Abbas will go to Gaza on Friday to tell militants he will not tolerate violations of the cease-fire, Abu Libdeh said.\nIsrael called for an immediate end to the violence.\nIsraeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon signaled in a newspaper interview Thursday that he was ready to release large numbers of Palestinian prisoners involved in deadly attacks if militants halt violence during Israel's planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip this summer.\nSharon said Abbas stressed during their recent summit in Egypt that the release of long-serving prisoners was a top priority.\n"He (Abbas) told me simply that it is a major problem," Sharon told the Haaretz daily newspaper.\nIn the past, Israel refused to release those involved in deadly attacks.\nA senior Israeli official said on condition of anonymity that Sharon would consider the release of prisoners "with blood on their hands" on an individual basis.\nThe newspaper quoted Sharon as saying he told Abbas that if the Gaza withdrawal proceeds smoothly, he would release larger numbers of Palestinians involved in attacks. Israel fears that militants will fire on Israeli troops and Jewish settlers during the withdrawal to portray it as a retreat under fire.\nAbbas has deployed thousands of Palestinian troops throughout the Gaza Strip to prevent attacks on Israeli targets. Israel has responded with a series of gestures, including a planned military pullback from five West Bank towns in the next three weeks.\nThe cease-fire remains fragile.\nEarly Thursday, Hamas militants said they fired 36 mortar shells and 20 homemade rockets at the Jewish settlements of Neve Dekalim and Gedid in the Gaza Strip. Hours later, three more mortars landed in Gedid.\nPalestinian security officials said on condition of anonymity that the rockets were fired from areas they were not permitted to patrol.\nSharon's office called Egyptian, American and Palestinian officials Thursday to express concern about the fresh violence.\n"We informed them we expect the Palestinians to act immediately against these attacks," said Sharon aide Asaf Shariv.of a king should be queen, but it is a historic convention.