Arafat Deputy: Uprising Was a Mistake
By KARIN LAUB 11/27/2002 09:37:08 EST
JERUSALEM (AP) - Yasser Arafat's deputy was quoted as saying the armed uprising
against Israel was a mistake and must be halted, but Palestinian militiamen said
Wednesday they would renew attacks in Israel to avenge two leaders killed in a
mysterious West Bank explosion.
The office of Arafat's deputy in the PLO, Mahmoud Abbas, released a 20-page
transcript of a closed-door meeting he held with Fatah activists last month in Gaza. In
the session, Abbas sharply criticized the militias, saying it was a mistake to turn
popular protests into an armed conflict with Israel.
"What happened in these two years, as we see it now, is a complete destruction of
everything we built," Abbas was quoted as saying. "The reason for this is that many
people diverted the uprising from its natural path and embarked on a path we can't
handle, with the use of weapons ... such as mortars, grenades and shooting from
houses and populated areas."
Abbas said shooting from populated areas endangered Palestinian lives and property,
because it invited Israeli retaliation. "We have to control the situation, and I don't think
there is anything that keeps us from succeeding," he said. "What is needed now is to
say, clearly and firmly - until here and enough."
Abbas did not mention Arafat by name, but since the Palestinian leader controls all
aspects of government, the criticism was clearly aimed at him.
For a time last month, Abbas had been considered a top contender for prime minister -
a position reform-minded Fatah leaders wanted to create to force Arafat to share
power. However, the initiative withered after Israel laid siege to Arafat's compound in
response to a suicide attack, giving a boost to his sagging popularity.
Israel, meanwhile, rejected Palestinian allegations that it was behind the blast in the
Jenin refugee camp that killed the local leaders of the Islamic militant group Hamas
and of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, a militia affiliated with Arafat's Fatah movement.
In the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian bomber blew up a car near an Israeli-Palestinian
liaison office, killing himself, but causing no injuries to bystanders. A radical PLO
faction claimed responsibility. In a West Bank refugee camp, a drummer who wakes
up residents for a pre-dawn meal during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, was
killed by Israeli undercover troops, his colleague said.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, meanwhile, reaffirmed his conditional support for
Palestinian statehood - a hotly contested issue in the race for leadership of his Likud
party. Sharon's challenger, Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, says he will not
permit the establishment of a Palestinian state under any circumstance.
If a peace deal is reached and Palestinian violence stops, "I don't believe there is a
statesman who would oppose the establishment of a Palestinian state," Sharon told
the Yediot Ahronot daily, adding that it would have to be demilitarized and that Israel
would retain control over borders.
Sharon is expected to trounce Netanyahu in Thursday's vote. Polls published
Wednesday indicated Sharon was ahead by at least 20 percentage points. If Sharon
wins, it means he is likely to keep his job, since the Likud is also expected to defeat
the moderate Labor Party in Jan. 28 general elections.
The two militia leaders were killed late Tuesday in the refugee camp. Fatah has been
trying to persuade Hamas to halt attacks in Israel, at least for the duration of the Israeli
election campaign.
Ala Sabbagh of the Al Aqsa militia and Imad Nasharti of Hamas were in a room in a
house under construction when they were killed. At the time, Israeli helicopter
gunships and several armored vehicles were in the area, witnesses said.
At one point, a loud explosion was heard, and rescue workers initially said the two
militia leaders were killed by an Israeli missile fired from a helicopter, but Fatah
officials later backed away from that claim.
At funerals for the two militants, the militias vowed to avenge the killings, promising to
target Israeli cities, among them Afula, Haifa and Tel Aviv.
The Al Aqsa militia had decided in September to halt attacks in Israel, targeting
instead Israeli soldiers and settlers in the West Bank and Gaza.
Palestinian Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat said the Palestinian Authority condemned
what he referred to as an Israeli assassination. "This is a major and dangerous
escalation," he said.
Israeli security officials said Israel was not involved in the deaths. Military officials
initially said that while the army had no role, it was possible other security forces were
involved or that the militants were killed while preparing a bomb.
The Hamas-Fatah talks on halting attacks in Israel are sponsored by Egypt, which has
been trying to persuade Israel to suspend targeted killings of Palestinian militants as a
goodwill gesture. Sharon has not committed himself to such a deal.
Since the outbreak of Israeli-Palestinian fighting in Sept. 2000, Israel has killed scores
of militants, as well as a number of bystanders, in targeted attacks. |
