Afula attack embarrasses Arafat on eve of Zinni meeting, and underlines his fading control
By Peter Hirschberg, Ha'aretz Correspondent
For Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat the shooting attack in Afula on Tuesday in which two Israelis were killed and 10 seriously injured, could not have come at a worse time - the day before he is scheduled to meet new U.S. envoy to the region Anthony Zinni.
Palestinian Cabinet Secretary Ahmed Abdel Rahman said the Israeli government was responsible for the attack because it had killed 56 Palestinians in less than a month. "So when there is a Palestinian response for such aggression, Sharon should blame [no one but] himself," he said.
Arafat, who is to meet Zinni on Wednesday for cease-fire talks, will have been even further embarrassed by the fact that one of the gunmen was a member of his own Fatah party. The other gunman was an Islamic Jihad member. Both hailed from the West Bank town of Jenin, from where the IDF pulled out overnight Monday.
"This certainly is another sign that Arafat is losing control," says Ha'aretz Arab Affairs commentator Danny Rubinstein. "There are whole population centers, including Jenin, over which he has no control. In many areas there are Intifada committees which are made up of all the different factions and they are not disciplined."
The IDF blockades on areas of the West Bank, says Rubinstein, have also weakened Arafat's grip. "The more isolated the area because of the blockades, the less control Arafat has," he explains.
Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin was not making life any easier for Arafat, reaffirming his movement’s vow to take revenge Israel's killing last week of Mahmoud Abu Hanoud, the number one Hamas military man in the West Bank. "Israel has paved the way of the American general with blood and so the bloody chain goes on as long as their is occupation and there is aggression," he said.
Ha'aretz reported Monday that intelligence analyses presented to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon assert that the Palestinian political system is already talking about the post-Arafat era. According to senior intelligence sources, Arafat is currently subject to heavy pressure from several directions, including internal pressure from the Palestinian street as a result of increased support for the Islamic organizations Hamas and Islamic Jihad. This is seen as the most serious threat to Arafat's rule.
But he is also believed to be under pressure from the senior Palestinian leadership, which believes that the PA chairman is leading the Palestinians to a dead end. Finally, there is military pressure by Israel, which is carrying out damaging operations in Palestinian-controlled areas.
Israeli leaders hastily seized on the attack as an illustration to the American mediation team – Zinni is being accompanied by Undersecretary of State William Burns and veteran peace negotiator Aaron Miller – of what Israel has been confronting ever since the Intifada erupted 14 months ago. "If Palestinian terrorists intended to give the U.S. mission a complete example of what Israel has been facing for the last weeks and months, this is it," said Zalman Shoval, an adviser to Sharon.
Likud leaders attacked Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer (Labor) who ordered the IDF out of Jenin overnight Monday, saying that his decision was based not only on security concerns but also diplomatic ones, in that he wanted to make a gesture to Zinni on his arrival by complying with the U.S. request for Israel to exit PA-controlled areas.
But Likud Minister Dani Naveh said the blame had to be shouldered by Arafat alone: "While we can't say he sent them [the gunmen], no-one can argue with the fact that Arafat is not even doing the minimum that is required of him. He is misleading everyone. Once again we have proof of the fact that the promotes terror." |
