October 11, 2001	Thursday	Rajab 23, 1422

GAZA: Palestinian groups bowed beneath the weight of Yasser Arafat’s iron fist on Tuesday by stepping back from an open revolt against their leader’s support for Washington’s war on Afghanistan.

A day after two Palestinians — one a 13-year-old boy — were shot dead by their own police after rioting in support of Osama bin Laden, Hamas and Arafat’s officials were working in tandem to restore order in Gaza City.

The borders of the territory remained sealed to foreign journalists on Tuesday, and schools and universities were closed to stifle any prospect of Palestinians taking to the streets with posters of Washington’s greatest enemy.

By Tuesday afternoon, an uneasy calm prevailed. The security forces had retreated to their barracks. Hamas and other radical groups were struggling to put the episode behind them.

As they buried their dead — the first victims of Palestinian guns since the start of the Intifada — many Gazans said they were afraid of inviting a civil war that would play into the hands of the Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon.

“Instead of fighting the Israelis, I am afraid we will be fighting each other, and this is one of Sharon’s plans,” said Wafa al-Ifranjy, at a mourners’ tent for her teenage son, Abdullah. “I never thought the Palestinian police could do something like this which is totally against our national unity. But we must not allow our people to be divided.”

The fury of Monday’s protests were fuelled by Arafat’s efforts to impose a ceasefire on the Palestinian revolt — which Washington sees as crucial to its designs of enlisting the support of Arab states for its war.

The clashes were the most serious challenge to Arafat’s rule since 1994. During that unrest, police shot dead 11 Islamist protesters only months after his Palestinian Authority came to power.

Arafat’s resort to force has provided the strongest evidence to date that he wants the ceasefire to work.

However, he warned that Arafat could reverse his enthusiasm for a ceasefire if Israel takes advantage of the world’s preoccupation with the war on Afghanistan by escalating military action in the West Bank and Gaza.

Palestinian loyalty to Washington has its price, however. Analysts believe Arafat would not have ordered the crackdown on protests unless he believed Washington would reward his efforts once the war in Afghanistan is over by putting pressure on Sharon to return to negotiations.

“Arafat believes that if he gives America what it wants from him now, he might get something in return,” said Hassan Khatib, a Palestinian analyst in Arab East Jerusalem. —Dawn/The Guardian News Service.