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Articles: Gaza Gunmen Issue New Challenge to Arafat's Rule

Posted by admin on Monday, July 19, 2004 - 12:06 AM

Palestinian President Yasser Arafat resolved a standoff with Palestinian gunmen challenging his rule on Monday by replacing a military intelligence force under siege, Palestinian security sources said.
The gunmen, intensifying pressure on Arafat to stamp out alleged corruption in his government, exchanged fire with Palestinian forces in a military intelligence compound in Rafah and set a nearby office alight. But further bloodshed was avoided after Arafat agreed to replace the intelligence unit manning the compound with officers from Gaza City, Palestinian security sources said. Arafat issued a statement calling acts such as the standoff "irresponsible" and said more changes in Gaza security apparatus were expected. "The president indicated that the security steps he has taken are the initial steps to resolve these conditions," the statement said. Gunmen opposed to the appointment of Moussa Arafat -- a member of the Palestinian old guard widely viewed as corrupt -- battled forces loyal to Arafat on Sunday in violence that left at least 18 people wounded. The level of violence between Palestinians was unprecedented since Arafat's Palestinian Authority took control of most of the Gaza Strip in 1994 under interim peace accords with Israel. "This corruption is like a cancer," gunmen shouted at a rally at the Nusseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, underlining the depth of feelings in a crisis that prompted Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie to resign on Friday. Calls for reform have soared amid a brewing factional power struggle in Gaza in anticipation of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's planned withdrawal of troops and settlers from the occupied territory by the end of 2005. Eager to stabilize his own position so he can push through the pullout plan, Sharon and his rightist Likud party began negotiations with the center-left Labour Party on Sunday in an attempt to bring it into his faltering coalition. PALESTINIAN PREMIER WEIGHTS POSITION Adding to Arafat's woes was the resignation of Qurie over what he called the "unprecedented chaos" in Gaza, triggered by brief abductions of four French aid workers, a police chief and another official. At a meeting of the Palestinian National Security Council on Sunday, Arafat told Qurie he "strongly rejects" the resignation, said Palestinian cabinet minister Saeb Erekat. Qurie was expected to announce at a cabinet meeting on Monday whether he would rescind his resignation. "People are simply fed up," Sufian Abu Zaideh, a Palestinian deputy minister, told Israeli Army Radio. At the weekend, Arafat ordered a security shake-up in Gaza, merging 12 competing armed forces into three and appointing Moussa Arafat. In the past, Arafat has paid little more than lip-service to reforms likely to diminish his influence. Palestinian officials say Arafat's ability to make reforms and rein in militants has been weakened by Israeli raids. Arafat himself has been penned in by Israeli forces for more than two years at his West Bank compound. Israel and the United States accuse Arafat of fomenting violence, which he denies. Sharon said Palestinian in-fighting showed he was right to take unilateral action with his Gaza pullout plan rather than try to negotiate a peace deal with Arafat. A U.S.-backed peace "road map" has been stalled by Israeli-Palestinian violence. In the West Bank on Monday, Palestinian witnesses reported soldiers raiding a village near the Tulkarm shot and killed a Palestinian. Israeli military sources confirmed an exchange of fire with gunmen in the village but not the death.

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