A militant brazenly challenged the new Palestinian security chief Tuesday, firing his weapon outside police headquarters in this West Bank town as the commander was holding meetings in the building. The chief ordered the gunman's arrest, but quickly backed down and let him walk away.

The confrontation between Interior Minister Nasser Yousef and Zakariye Zubeydi, a militant who is seen by residents as the ruler of Jenin, illustrated the delicate balance the Palestinian Authority must strike between reining in armed groups through persuasion and fending off international calls for a crackdown...

On Tuesday [2005_03_01], Yousef drove into the adjacent Jenin refugee camp in a motorcade of several cars filled with bodyguards. During the tour, armed militants walked around the camp, but there was no contact between them and the security chief.

After Yousef reached Jenin's police headquarters, Zubeydi and seven of his followers marched into the compound, and three of the men began shooting in the air, an incident witnessed by several journalists.

Several policemen tried to stop the shooting and asked the gunmen to leave. One policeman tried to wrest the gun away from one of Zubeydi's followers. One militant, in turn, pointed his M-16 rifle at one of the soldiers. At that point, Zubeydi ordered the men to stop firing and they left.

Zubeydi said he was upset that Yousef had not coordinated the meeting with him and demanded the security chief leave. "Every city has its own gate, and Nasser Yousef did not come through the proper gate of Jenin," Zubeydi said.

An outraged Yousef responded by firing the local security chief, Fayez Arafat, bringing 600 police officers to the headquarters as reinforcements, and demanding Zubeydi's arrest.

"We are not leaving Jenin before we have arrested this bunch of criminals," Yousef said, according to witnesses who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal.

Yousef quickly backed down, however, and met with Zubeydi, who returned to the building armed with a rifle and wearing a bulletproof vest. Zubeydi walked away a free man, and Yousef refused to comment on his reversal...

During the presidential election in January, Zubeydi ignored the ban on weapons at polling stations and walked into a school to vote, surrounded by 15 armed supporters. However, he also called on his followers to vote for Abbas.

While General Sharon and his henchmen have no difficulty unleashing a brutal police force against dissidents, Arafat II is making it increasing clear -- in word and deed -- that he has no intention of controlling the terrorists in his midst. Yet, the west, including Powell in a skirt, continue to appease the Arabs, to Israel's detriment. One would have expected that Israel's government would protect its people and oppose its enemies - from London to Ramallah - but this does not seem to be the case.

Draw your own conclusion.