TEL AVIV — Yasser Arafat bowed to Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia for the first time during a five-day political standoff, agreeing yesterday to give him partial control of the Palestinian security forces to halt rising anarchy in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Meanwhile, public pressure on Mr. Arafat mounted in Gaza City, where thousands of demonstrators protested outside the parliament building to call on the Palestinian leader to fire his nephew Moussa Arafat, a security chief in Gaza.
After almost a week of anti-government upheaval in the Gaza Strip, Mr. Arafat has yet to calm fears of a power struggle among rival militias after a planned Israeli withdrawal.
Still, analysts say there are no signs that the crisis is undermining Mr. Arafat’s rule.
Mr. Qureia will get control of the Palestinian police force and the preventative security detail — the outfit charged with foiling terrorist attacks.
He also will appoint his own interior minister to oversee the security branches, according Palestinian legislator Imad Faluji.
“What Yasser Arafat announced today is an encouraging sign,” Mr. Faluji said. “The security responsibilities will be shared according to the law.”
The demonstrators in Gaza City were said to have numbered more than 10,000, possibly the largest pro-reform rally ever in the Palestinian territories.
Speakers called on Mr. Arafat to dump his nephew as well as other government officials tainted by corruption and cronyism.
More ominous was the show of force at the rally, as masked gunmen shot automatic rifles in the air. The gunmen were thought to be part of Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, a militant offshoot of Mr. Arafat’s Fatah party that has carried out suicide bombings against Israelis.
Younger militants in Fatah want Mr. Arafat to give the militia more authority at the expense of his longtime confidants.
The unrest, however, shows few signs of spreading to the West Bank, where support for Mr. Arafat is higher and where he can exert more control from his headquarters in Ramallah.
Anticipation of a power vacuum in the Gaza Strip after the planned Israeli pullout has made the strife more acute there. With the Israeli military firmly entrenched throughout the West Bank, Palestinian militias can’t come out into the open.
And despite the unprecedented tumult on the streets of the Gaza Strip and in the legislative building in Ramallah this week, Mr. Arafat’s standing doesn’t appear to be faltering.
The Gaza demonstrations, for example, are small compared with funeral marches when Israel assassinates a Palestinian leader.
“The public at large is keeping a distance,” said Ghassan Khatib, a Labor minister in the Palestinian Cabinet.
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