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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Nadine Carroll who wrote (50369)	10/8/2002 11:39:35 PM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Interesting comment on the Arafat/Hamas situation from the Jerusalem Post. PA security officials hiding from Hamas By KHALED ABU TOAMEH Many senior Palestinian Authority security officials in the Gaza Strip have gone underground, fearing retaliatory attacks from Hamas activists following two days of armed clashes between PA policemen and Hamas gunmen. "Commanders of PA security forces are afraid to sleep in their homes," sources in the Gaza Strip said. "Many of them have stopped showing up at work." The clashes erupted almost immediately after the assassination of Col. Rajeh Abu Lihyeh, head of the PA's anti-riot police force, on Monday. The killing, which took place in broad daylight, is seen as a severe blow to the PA's prestige. According to a PA official in Ramallah, PA Chairman Yasser Arafat is seething mad over the bloody events in the Gaza Strip and has ordered his security forces to put an immediate end to the bloodletting. But Arafat has discovered that the Gaza Strip is no longer under his full control. Tensions have been running high between the two parties ever since Hamas rejected an understanding with the PA to stop suicide attacks inside the Green Line in August. One of the results of his lengthy stay in Ramallah, where he has been confined to his office since late last year, is that he has lost a great deal of his influence over the Gaza Strip, where more than 1 million Palestinians live. Hamas has become the de facto authority there, virtually taking full control over all the towns and refugee camps, except for some parts of Gaza City. Abu Lihyeh was abducted from the part of Gaza in which the PA is supposed to be in full control, adding to blow dealt to Arafat's security forces. "Today the PA's power is effectively restricted to some neighborhoods in Gaza City," explained an academic living in Gaza's Sheikh Radwan neighborhood. "The fact that the colonel was kidnapped from this neighborhood is a slap in Arafat's face." On Monday, a furious Arafat issued instructions to send 3,000 policemen to the Nusseirat refugee camp to arrest his murderers. Only 400 policemen participated in the mission, which ended in failure after hundreds of civilians and Hamas gunmen blocked their way. The sources in the Gaza Strip said the rest of the policemen refused to take part out of fear for their lives or simply because they believe that a confrontation with Hamas, at this stage, does not serve Palestinian interests. Hamas leaders... attacked the PA, accusing its top officials of helping Israel in its efforts to quell the intifada. Their veiled message to the Hamas gunmen is that the PA is also an enemy. Last month the PA announced the arrest of several of its policemen who allegedly confessed to having worked as informers for Israel. The arrests dealt yet another blow to the PA's standing, with its rivals pointing out that the real collaborators are to be found among the top brass of the PA. Arafat has in the past twice sent the police to arrest Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi, but each time they showed up, scores of Hamas gunmen and unarmed civilians would surround them and chase them away from his home. Arafat has also failed in imposing a house-arrest on Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. At yesterday's funerals for the Hamas activists killed in the clashes with the police, Rantisi declared that the "traitors and collaborators" in the PA would soon be uncovered and punished. His threat could mark the beginning of a Hamas campaign to target top PA political and security officials. "Arafat has to face the fact that his forces have lost control over the majority of the Gaza Strip," said the Gaza academic. "The people here have more sympathy for Hamas and Islamic Jihad, because they believe they are their authentic representatives."