Briefs

WEST BANK

Deployd police clash with militants

QABATIYEH — Hundreds of newly deployed Palestinian police clashed with militants in this small town yesterday, a sign of the challenges facing President Mahmoud Abbas’ government in reining in gunmen in the West Bank.

Three people were wounded , one critically.

The police deployment is part of a security program by Mr. Abbas’ prime minister, Salam Fayyad, to assert control in the West Bank in line with promises to Israel and the U.S.

Israel has complained repeatedly that Mr. Abbas is not moving fast enough to rein in militants, seen as a key condition for the success of peace talks between the two sides.

Before dawn yesterday, Palestinian forces entered Qabatiyeh, a town of about 15,000 about six miles south of the town of Jenin. Security commander Diab Ali said the policemen were attacked by local militants, while a leader of the Islamic Jihad militant group said police fired first.

LEBANON

Cabinet ousts airport security chief

BEIRUT — Lebanon’s Cabinet decided yesterday to remove Beirut airport’s security chief over reports of ties to the militant Hezbollah group, the country’s information minister said.

The decision is expected to exacerbate tension between the Western-backed government and the Hezbollah-led opposition.

Information Minister Ghazi Aridi said at the end of a marathon Cabinet meeting that began Monday evening and lasted nearly 11 hours, that the security chief, Brig. Gen. Wafiq Shoukair, would rejoin the army.

ISRAEL

Subsidized synagogue a first for Reform Jews

MODIIN — Israel’s Reform Jews dedicated the first non-Orthodox synagogue to receive state funding, after a long court battle that highlighted the rift among the country’s different streams of Judaism.

The Reform Yozma congregation dedicated the synagogue Monday after fighting for the better part of a decade for state funding equivalent to what Orthodox congregations receive.

From wire dispatches and staff reports