Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas agreed in a meeting Saturday with top Hamas leaders that Hamas will take control of part of the Palestinian security forces after it forms a government, a Hamas leader said in a press conference following the meeting.Posted on 05 February 2006 @ 17:25 GMT"There is no truth to baseless reports that President Abbas wants to take over the security institutions," Haniyeh told reporters after the meeting.
An official source close to Abbas confirmed the statement to The Jerusalem Post.
"Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas) does not want control over all the forces," said the source. "The National Guard (military-type force) and the intelligence services will stay under the president's control, but the police, the civil guard, and the Preventive Security Forces will be under the control of the Interior Minister as the Palestinian law dictates."
Abbas has not said that he wants to control all the forces, but other senior Fatah officials have said that Fatah-dominated security forces would not accept being controlled by Hamas.