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GAZA: Yasser Arafat’s popularity is higher than ever among Palestinians after Israel’s one-month siege of his West Bank headquarters, but the deal that ended his confinement is already under fire from some of his people.
Under a US-brokered agreement, the Palestinian Authority handed over six men wanted by Israel to British and US officials and agreed to their transfer from the Palestinian president’s compound to a jail in Jericho, near the Dead Sea.
A number of political factions and some ordinary Palestinians condemned the move as a blow to the national unity that has built up during the 19-month-old uprising against Israeli occupation in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
Some Palestinian analysts said that while the opposition to the deal would not be a major blow to Arafat, it underlined the problems he would face as he tried to govern Palestinian-ruled areas devastated by a crushing Israeli military offensive.
Arafat must also contend with conflicting calls for revenge by militants and international demands for an end to violence.
“I think Arafat will maintain strong popularity but he will have to deal with the new reality on the ground,” political analyst Ali al-Jarbawi said, adding that Arafat should call for a national dialogue with all Palestinian political forces.
But Arafat, who denies any responsibility for the suicide attacks in Israel, must tread carefully. Opinions differ over how to wage the uprising, and his relationships with militant groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad are far from smooth.
“We are awaiting a difficult stage. The Palestinian Authority has submitted to outside pressure to fight the resistance,” said Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi, a Hamas leader.
The radical Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) also criticized the prisoner transfer, which involved handing over PFLP General Secretary Ahmad Saadat and Fuad Shubaki, finance director of the Palestinian national security forces.
“BLACK CHAPTER”: Jamil al-Majdalawi, a senior PFLP leader in Gaza, said the handover was a “black chapter” in the history of the Palestinian Authority and its relationship with Palestinian groups.
“The crime (the handover) could represent a decisive turn in the relationship and the PFLP will be seriously studying further steps,” he said, without saying what these might be. “All options are open,” he added.
The wife of one of the six prisoners, Ahed Abu Ghalama, had similar sentiments.
“They should have given them weapons and told them to go defend the Palestinians instead of imprisoning them and placing them under US supervision,” Wafa Abu Ghalama told Qatar-based Al-Jazeera television.
Representatives of some Palestinian factions met overnight in the Gaza Strip and called on Arafat to immediately free the six men and to shun US and British intervention.
Despite this, Palestinian political analyst Mahdi Abdel-Hadi said the public criticism by factions would not mean a change in their involvement in the Palestinian uprising.
“They have a responsibility to oppose what happened,” he said. “But sooner or later what happened will be viewed as yesterday and history, which they reject, but they all must continue together.”—Reuters
