JENIN, West Bank -- Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and his followers are supplying financial and political support to armed groups that reject the current cease-fire and the leadership of Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, according to the Palestinian Authority and local officials.

The groups include units of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades organization, a military affiliate of Arafat's Fatah movement that is listed as a terrorist group by the US State Department. In recent days, the Brigades led attacks on pro-Abbas leaders in major West Bank cities and hounded from office the governor of Jenin. Control of this chaotic and lawless city, from which numerous terror attacks have been launched against Israel, is essential if the Palestinian Authority is to meet its commitments under the US-backed ''road map'' toward Mideast peace.

''They won -- they have forced me to resign,'' a bruised and battered Governor Haider Irsheid said in his home as he recovered from his abduction and public beating last Saturday at the hands of armed militants in Jenin. He said he would continue functioning as governor until he leaves on a two-month vacation today, then will insist that Arafat accept his resignation. ''I am exhausted,'' the 49-year-old Jenin native and former diplomat said. ''They beat me all over my body.''

[...]Hamayel, who made the payment from Fatah funds, said the Brigades members ''are employees and they are Fatah. They are also human beings. They need to pay rent for their homes and telephones.'' He said the groups ''are committed to the cease-fire. They told us in writing that their commitment to the cease-fire is absolute.''

When told that Zakariah al Zubaidi, the head of the Brigades in the Jenin camp, told Globe reporters that they did not accept the cease-fire and mounted attacks as recently as Sunday, Hamayel said, ''That's not true.''[...]