Arafat calls for continued fighting

JERUSALEM (October 28) - As soldiers remained entrenched in Palestinian Authority areas due to continuing violence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and the failure of the PA to stop firing at Jerusalem's Gilo neighborhood, PA Chairman Yasser Arafat called on his people "to continue fighting, fighting, determinedly and forcefully." His statements in Gaza were broadcast on Channel 2 last night.

Two members of Arafat's Force 17 were killed in clashes with soldiers over the weekend; one yesterday near Tulkarm, Fares Jabar, was wanted for the murders of two Tel Aviv restaurateurs in January, and one near Bethlehem on Friday morning.

Five Israelis were lightly wounded in separate incidents in the West Bank; four last night from gunfire at their vehicles travelling between Sussiya and Maon and another who was shot near Shavei Shomron on Friday night.

Reinforced security units at Rachel's Tomb last night prepared for the large number of Jewish worshipers expected at the site today to mark the anniversary of her death.

In Hebron, a group of Jewish residents, angry over the cabinet decision to pull out troops from Area A, occupied an empty building in the Palestinian-controlled Abu Sneineh neighborhood to protest the move. Calling the building Beit Rehavam after assassinated tourism minister Rehavam Ze'evi, the group called on Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to remember his promise to reenter Palestinian areas if firing from them were renewed.

Police and soldiers dispersed the demonstrators, and police arrested Yitzhak Pass, whose 10-month-old daughter, Shalhevet, was killed by a Palestinian sniper firing from Abu Sneineh earlier this year.

The Council of Jewish Communities in Judea, Samaria, and the Gaza Strip issued a statement condemning the government's decision, which it said came as senior IDF officers warned that further terrorist attacks were imminent.

On Friday afternoon Judea and Samaria police detained a resident of Eilon Moreh, 26, on suspicion of throwing stones near Hawara and lightly wounding a Palestinian man in the head.

Six mortar shells were fired harmlessly over the weekend at a Jewish community in the central Gaza Strip and inside Israel near the northern Gaza border fence. Last night a grenade was thrown at soldiers patrolling the border near Rafah.

Palestinians fired anti-tank grenades at an IDF post near Neveh Dekalim, and shots were fired at an army position near Gadid in Gush Katif and at an IDF post near Bnei Atzmon. An anti-tank grenade was also fired at an IDF post near Netzer Hazani. Shots were fired last night and Friday at soldiers patrolling the Karni-Netzarim road.

In the West Bank yesterday, Palestinians reported that the IDF had arrested six Palestinians in the Nablus area; five members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and a member of Fatah. Palestinians said Firas Jaber, 24, a member of Force 17, was killed during a gun battle with soldiers after tanks entered Tulkarm. Last night four Israeli civilians were lightly wounded when Palestinians shot at their car near Sussiya in the south Hebron Hills.

In the Bethlehem area there were intense gun battles between soldiers and Palestinian gunmen. Last night Palestinians continued to shoot at the Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo, causing damage to a number of apartments. Shots were also fired at an IDF post at Tel Aras outside Nablus and at an IDF post on Mount Ebal. Shots were fired at an Israeli vehicle near Negohot west of Hebron and at an IDF vehicle near Kalkilya. Yesterday morning a bomb was discovered near an IDF vehicle at Ein Bidan north of Nablus and Palestinians opened fire at soldiers searching the area. Shortly afterward another bomb was discovered by soldiers near Deir al-Hatab east of Nablus. Both bombs were detonated by sappers.

On Friday night shots were fired at Psagot near Ramallah and at the Bethlehem bypass (tunnel) road. Shots were fired from Kalkilya at Kibbutz Nir Eliahu inside Israel, at the Yad Yair army post, and at an army roadblock near Har Homa. Shots were also fired at a tank deployed at the Kalanswa roadblock, at a Border Police base near Tulkarm, and at a Border Police base outside Bethlehem. On Friday morning, soldiers shot and killed Farid Abu Jallah, a member of Force 17 near the Aida refugee camp.

Yesterday afternoon the IDF prevented a group of human rights activists from entering Sussiya in the south Hebron Hills to help Palestinians harvest olives. The group returned to Jerusalem and demonstrated outside the Mevaseret home of Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer.

You might enjoy this article published by the Ibn Khaldun center in Cairo.

Arafat Drop Pretence at Democracy

By Shyam Bhatia

Shyam Bhatia, of the Guardian Weekly, reports from Jerusalem on the other side of the Palestinian National Authority's public image.

Yasser Arafat-style democracy has been in evidence throughout the West Bank, from the chambers of the legislative council in Bethlehem to the underground prison cells in Nablus, where a young Palestinian was beaten to death. As one nightmare ended in tragedy, another began when the Palestinian president, shouting abuse and threats, marched out of a meeting of his legislative council. The reason the 88 legislators were heavily criticized was that they dared to discuss the limits of Mr. Arafat's presidential powers in a new constitution.

The volley of abuse from the "Father of the Revolution" shocked the Bethlehem gathering into silence. Only one man had the courage to react. Ahmed Qreia, the Speaker of the House and long-standing associate of Mr. Arafat, got up from his chair and announced: "That's it, I've had enough. I'm resigning." Condemnation at this level does not sit well with the Nobel Laureate who chooses to present himself on the international stage as a born-again peace monger and democrat. Those closely familiar with Mr. Arafat's tantrums present a different picture of the president. They say the Bethlehem episode as yet another example of how he is rapidly transforming his regime into a ruthless dictatorship. "This is a regime of terror and intimidation," says one Palestinian representative who witnessed the Bethlehem showdown. "The people who elected us are laughing at us because they know we are impotent."

Mr. Arafat rarely justifies his actions or his language, but the shocked reactions of his constituents obliged him to return to the council to explain away his abusive rhetoric. "Don't misunderstand me," he told bewildered council members. "What happened here was part of our democracy. We are proud of our democratic system."

Mr. Arafat is intolerant of the slightest opposition or criticism. Those who dare to protest quickly find themselves handcuffed and escorted to one of the president's many prisons. Although he rules with the help of a cabinet, none of his ministers dares to make a decision without his approval. More importantly, he has exclusive control over the Palestinian Authority's bank accounts and he alone decides how to spend the tens of millions of dollars received from foreign donors.

When South Korea approved $7 million for Palestinian economic development, Mr. Arafat shaved off $2 million for a new presidential headquarters and residence on the outskirts of Nablus. Palestinians learned of their president's grandiose scheme after he sent in police to confiscate thousands of acres belonging to local farmers. Some of the landowners lay down in front of the Palestinian Authority's bulldozers and have since disappeared. They are widely believed to have been detained by one of Mr. Arafat's nine security agencies.

Testimonies gathered by human rights activists show that commanders of Mr. Arafat's 45,000-strong police force are mired in scandals ranging from kidnapping and rape to embezzlement, blackmail and land theft. Earlier this year, a 17-year-old girl from Gaza committed suicide after she was raped by a senior police officer. In Jerusalem a Palestinian academic who claimed she was raped by one of Mr. Arafat' close advisers has been detained by Palestinian secret service personnel. In Ramallah the deputy Mayor, Zaki Nahas, was abducted by members of force 17, Mr. Arafat's presidential security guards, after he refused to sell his land to a senior Palestinian official. In the same city a wealthy businessman, Ahmed Abu Ghosh, was severely beaten by the head of the Palestinian secret service, Colonel Jibril Rajoub, after he refused to give up his parking space to the wife of a Palestinian minister.

Last month Col. Rajoub's agents, acting on Mr. Arafat's direct instructions, kidnapped an Israeli-Arab businessman from his Jerusalem home. Abdel Salam's only fault was to file a complaint in an Israeli court against the Coptic church in Arab East Jerusalem. The cause of the dispute was trivial, but the church took its version to Mr. Arafat. When Mr. Harbawi rejected Palestinian arbitration, he was kidnapped. He was released from prison in Ramallah only after Israel sealed off access to the city and warned that it would cancel a forthcoming meeting between its foreign minister, David Levy, and Mr. Arafat. "Arafat's policemen are behaving like gangsters," says a Palestinian journalist. "The problem is we don't know under which law they operate. Each force has its own force and acts independently."

The Palestinian navy may not have a single ship to its name, but it does possess a lock-up. The secret of the navy's detention facilities may never have surfaced but for the tragic death of a young Palestinian, Mahmoud Jumayl, who died under torture in Nablus. He was arrested eight months ago when he knocked on the door of Col. Rajoub's police station in Jericho to inquire about his missing brother. [Afterward], 26-year-old Jumayl was handed over to Mr. Arafat's navy police commandos. Three days later his mutilated body was brought to a West Bank hospital. Witnesses say that Jumayl had been branded with hot irons and suffered extensive cigarette burns. He was the seventh Palestinian to die under torture in Mr. Arafat's prisons.

Jumayl's death has provoked a mini Intifada against the Arafat regime. Thousands of Palestinian mourners joined the funeral procession in Jumayl's hometown of Nablus, throwing stones at police and burning tires while shouting anti-Arafat slogans. In the nearby town of Tulkaram, Palestinian policemen had shot and killed a 28-year-old Palestinian who participated in a demonstration. Four others were seriously injured. "I can tell you there is organized torture in Arafat's prisons," says Hosam Khadr, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council. "I myself am a veteran of Israeli prisons and I was arrested by the Israelis on 23 occasions. What is happening in our prisons now is worse than what we experienced in Israeli jails during the 27 years of occupation."
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