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GAZA: Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat may have angered some Palestinians by keeping a militant leader wanted by Israel in jail, but he avoided a major crisis and possible Israeli military retaliation, analysts said.
Arafat’s Palestinian Authority says it would not free Ahmed Sa’adat, chief of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), despite a ruling by the Palestinians’ highest court he should be released.
“The decision cannot be implemented under the current circumstances because of the Israeli threats,” a statement said.
Sa’adat, accused by Israel in the assassination of a cabinet minister in October, is one of six Palestinians being held in a Jericho prison under British and US supervision under a deal which ended Israel’s siege of Arafat’s headquarters last month.
Israeli political analyst Gerald Steinberg said Arafat’s decision might not brighten his image among Israelis, but it prevented deterioration in an already tense situation after more than 20 months of Israeli-Palestinian violence.
“He (Arafat) avoided a major clash, a major crisis and a possible resumption of intensive fighting,” Steinberg said.
He said Israel would not have hesitated to take action, including sending more tanks into Palestinian-ruled territory, to bring Sa’adat to trial in Israel.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had said Israel had taken all necessary steps to prevent the release of Sa’adat, whose group claimed responsibility for the assassination of far-right cabinet minister Rehavam Zeevi in October.
INTERNATIONAL EFFORTS: Palestinian political analyst Ali al-Jerbawi said although Arafat recently signed a law guaranteeing the independence of the judiciary, he could not afford to defy the international community by allowing Sa’adat to go free.
“I agree Arafat has failed in his first test at home (to abide by internal reforms) but he also cannot act in a way that completely ignores the mounting international pressures on his authority,” Jerbawi said.
“We also cannot ignore the real threat (by Israel) to Sa’adat’s life if he were freed,” he said.
The Palestinian Authority’s decision helped defuse a controversy which had overshadowed a visit to the region by George Tenet, chief of the US Central Intelligence Agency.
Tenet met Arafat on Tuesday to push Palestinians to unify their numerous security agencies into a single force as part of a programme of sweeping internal reforms urged by Washington.
Jerbawi said Arafat was walking a tightrope between internal and international demands.
“He is in dilemma and he always has been. He wants to appease his people but at the same time he cannot turn a blind eye to the international community,” he said.
FURY AT HOME: Arafat’s cabinet decision to keep Sa’adat in jail drew condemnation from militant leaders who had strongly opposed his imprisonment as caving in to demands from Israel and the United States, the Jewish state’s chief ally.
“It adds to the sins committed by Arafat and which began by the arrest of Sa’adat,” said Rabah Muhanad, a senior PFLP leader in Gaza Strip. “We fear that the Palestinian political decision would remain a hostage to US and Israeli dictates.”
Khalil Abu Shammala, director of the Ad-Dameer Association for human rights, said the cabinet’s decision was a blow to the newly signed law of independent judiciary and cast a cloud over other promised reforms.
“It confirmed that nothing has changed on the continued intervention of the executive authority in the work of judiciary,” he added.
Palestinians in growing numbers are demanding an overhaul of Palestinian institutions to rid them of corruption and mismanagement.
Despite that, some ordinary Palestinians defended the Palestinian Authority’s decision to keep Sa’adat jailed as the only way out of a difficult situation.
“What if he was killed after being released? Then the PFLP would accuse the authority of failing to protect him,” said Salem Ghannam, 35 a Gaza taxi driver.—Reuters
