 Faced with increasing lawlessness in the occupied territories, Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei yesterday said his Cabinet would go on strike if security forces failed to rein in armed groups.
| Ahmed, I don't think you've quite got this down: the gummint doesn't go on strike... |
"If this security chaos does not end, we will suspend our duties," he told reporters in the Palestinian Authority headquarter in the West Bank town of Ramallah.
| "Yeah! We'll quit! What're you gonna do then? Riddle me that! Hah? Hah?" |
"We are telling the heads of security services that there should be severe deterrence for all those who are tampering with security."
| "Just... Just... Just shoot 'em or something!" |
Qorei said some members of the security services were responsible for some of the disturbances which they were meant to prevent. "The people are no longer prepared to tolerate these attacks, hundreds of which have been carried out by members of the security services," he said. "Any commander (of the security services) who is reluctant to hold them to account should leave the service along with the people themselves."
| "That's if it's okay, of course.... Put those down! You don't have to go for your guns!" |
Qorei's remarks followed a surge of violence in Ramallah, previously less affected by strife that has plagued other towns in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. In the most recent of three shooting incidents in Ramallah in the past week, several members of the Palestinian security services took part in a gunfight between rival families in which two people were wounded. They ultimately fired on police who intervened to stop the fight. |