interesting debka headline
Arafat declares his Fatah Tanzim militia and al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade (suicide corps) Palestinian Authority’s main security force
What makes this really interesting is that the Tanzim and al Aqsa are the new militias created to wage the intifada. Arafat tried to keep the old militias, the ones he got under Oslo (he had a large number of overlapping security forces, 8 or 9 at least), officially "untainted" by terrorism. I have read that it was a sore point with the old militias, who were effectively sidelined from doing much of anything. They obviously weren't helping the Israelis maintain the peace anymore, but they were not really allowed to wage the war either. So the new militias got all the glory, and the honor of the old militias was lessened.
This announcement sounds to me as if Arafat no longer trusts the loyalty of the old militias. In Gaza, the PA Security Forces answer to Dahlan, who has refused a post in the new PA cabinet. I don't know where Jibril Rajoub is, who used to head one of the West Bank security forces, I haven't heard his name for a while. Meantime Abu Mazen, Arafat's longtime #2, has moved to Amman to try to form an opposition party.
The PA is a hollowed out shell, but as long as Arafat can still play the rais (prince) and manipulate the other players, that's what matters to him. |
