Arafat storms out of Fatah meeting
By JPOST.COM STAFF
Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat stormed out of a meeting of the Fatah revolutionary council Thursday, following a shouting match with security advisor, Nasser Yussef, regarding security reforms, reported IBA news Friday morning.
Yussef questioned Palestinian security forces ability to function efficiently without reforms.
"You traitor, spy, shut your mouth, you have no right to talk," Arafat was quoted as shouting to Yousef before hurling a microphone at him.
Yousef chucked a pen at the veteran Palestinian leader before other members of the Revolutionary Council intervened and calmed down the two septuagenarians, the official said.
Arafat and Yousef have clashed several times in the past, most recently when the Palestinian leader prevented Yousef from serving as security chief in Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei's government.
Council members said after a morning session Friday that Arafat had reiterated their reform demands, but they were uncertain anything more would come of them.
"This meeting enforced Arafat's power as the leader," council member Amin Maqbol said. "He adopted the reforms that were in our minds, but the question is whether these reforms will be implemented on the ground after the meeting ends."
'The message was that Fatah had resolved its internal crisis'
Council member Ahmed Ghneim said the meeting had two messages: That Fatah had resolved its internal crisis, and that the movement supports peace efforts.
Yousef - along with other members of Fatah and the Palestinian Authority - has long called for reforms in the security forces.
Arafat has been stalling and opposing reforms, including a recent demand by the European Union that some 25,000 security officers be paid directly to their bank accounts.
Currently, cash is given to officers who then distribute the money among their employees.
The 126-member Fatah revolutionary council, Fatah's second highest body, is supposed to meet every three months. Wednesday, it convened for the first time in three years for a three-day meeting in an effort to solve the crisis resulting from the recent resignation of scores of activists.
They resigned over what they said is widespread corruption among the old guard and armed street patrols by para-militaries. |
