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

To: Brumar89 who wrote (104123)	7/5/2003 11:10:32 PM
From: Nadine Carroll	Respond to of 281500

For those keeping score: Arafat vs. Dahlan. Dahlan wants to observe the hudna, Arafat's boys don't. My money says we hear a big boom from Al Aqsa sometime in the near future (unless the Gen. Sec. Services are sharp enough to stop all attempts, in which case Arafat gets a free pass as per usual): PA, Palestinian armed groups strive to avoid confrontation By KHALED ABU TOAMEH Efforts were under way in the Gaza Strip Saturday to prevent a wide-scale confrontation between the Palestinian Authority security forces and members of two armed groups affiliated with Fatah. Attempts by PA officials over the weekend to persuade gunmen from the Aksa Martyrs Brigades and the Popular Resistance Committees to stop their attacks against IDF soldiers and settlers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip have failed, resulting in increased tension between the two sides. Palestinian security sources said PA Minister of State for Security Muhammed Dahlan wants to dismantle the two groups, which are responsible for a series of rocket attacks against Israel since the cease-fire announcement last week. "Dahlan is determined to dismantle the Aksa Martyrs Brigades and the Popular Resistance Committees because of their opposition to the cease-fire," said a security source in Gaza City. The source said several senior PA and Fatah officials are opposed to the idea and have warned that any move against the gunmen would spark an unnecessary armed confrontation with the Palestinian security services. The issue was discussed at two separate meetings of the Fatah central council and the PLO executive committee chaired by PA Chairman Yasser Arafat in Ramallah on Friday night. Abbas Zaki, a member of the Fatah central committee, told The Jerusalem Post that members of the Aksa Brigades are angry because they were not consulted before the cease-fire announcement. "There is a need to guarantee the safety of all these young men," he said, referring to the disgruntled Fatah gunmen. "We decided at the meeting to seek ways to ensure the safety of these men and to try to rehabilitate them in the future." According to Zaki, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and the US have pledged that there would be no "retroactive" punishments of the Fatah gunmen. He said the killing of last week of a top Fatah operative in Kalkilya by the IDF infuriated all the group's gunmen, who want assurances that they would not be targeted. Seven members of the Aksa Brigades and the Popular Resistance Committees were arrested by Palestinian policemen in Shati refugee camp in Gaza City and the town of Khan Yunis. The arrests followed anti-tank rockets at the Kfar Darom settlement on Wednesday. The rocket fire injured four people. Eyewitnesses said three people were injured when one of the gunmen from the Popular Resistance Committees opened fire at the police forces in Shati camp late Friday. It wasn't clear if the suspect was among the wounded, but he was taken into custody. It was the first armed clash between gunmen and Palestinian policemen in the Gaza Strip since the cease-fire announced by Fatah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad went into effect last week. On Thursday night, hundreds of Palestinians, led by about a dozen masked gunmen shooting in the air, marched in Gaza City to protest the arrests. The protesters, many belonging to the Aksa Brigades and the Popular Resistance Committees, also set off homemade grenades, but there were no clashes with police. Palestinian sources said the gunmen fired warning shots outside the homes of Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas and Dahlan in Gaza City. The PA's security forces didn't interfere to stop the demonstrators even as many of them were shouting slogans accusing Abbas and Dahlan of collaborating with Israel and the US. But even as mediation efforts were under way to defuse the tensions, leaders of the Aksa Brigades and the Popular Resistance Committees reiterated their opposition to the unilateral cease-fire. "We can't accept the hudna (temporary cease-fire) while the Zionists are trying to enter the haram al sharif [Temple Mount] and when two of our fighters are in Palestinian prison," said Abu Adnan al-Bab, a leader of the Popular Resistance Committees in the Gaza Strip. He stressed that his group was engaged in "serious efforts" with the Palestinian security forces in a bid to calm tensions between the two sides. The leader of the Aksa Brigades in the north of the West Bank, Zakariya al-Zubaidi, declared that his group has never accepted the cease-fire and would continue to launch terrorist attacks against Israel. Brandishing a US-made M-16 rifle in the Jenin refugee camp, Zubaidi set three conditions for accepting the4 cease-fire. First, that Israel would publicly announce a unilateral truce; second, that Israel lift the siege imposed on Arafat; and third, the release of all Palestinian prisoners, particularly those serving lengthy sentences. "The Fatah leaders who announced the hudna didn't consult with us," he said. "How can we declare a hudna when our camp and city are under occupation and when President Arafat is under siege and Israel is assassinating innocent activists." Meanwhile, the PA prime minister held more talks in Gaza City over the weekend with leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad to discuss the latest developments in the Gaza Strip. Sources close to Abbas said he renewed his offer to the two Islamic groups to join the PA institutions. The Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders reaffirmed their commitment to the cease-fire announcement and urged Abbas to press harder for the release of all the Palestinian prisoners, the sources added. Islamic Jihad official Mohammed al-Hindi said after talks with Abbas that a list would be compiled of prisoners whose release is considered a top priority, including those who have already served out long sentences, women, minors, the elderly and the infirm. "On the subject of [releasing] prisoners, we have prioritized the subject based upon an agreement reached by all the factions," he said. jpost.com