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Palestinian Authority near collapse?
External political pressures, internal power struggles, and multiple financial crises have brought the Palestinian Authority to the brink of collapse, Palestinian and Israeli officials and analysts say, raising concerns that a possible Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip could create a chaotic vacuum and throw control of the territory into the hands of the Islamic extremist group Hamas. The mounting problems have reportedly caused a major rift between longtime Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei, who is under intense pressure from Egypt, European nations, and the United States to undertake reforms of financial and security systems that would prepare the authority to reassume control of Gaza. At a news conference in Germany yesterday, Qurei denied reports that he has threatened to resign because Arafat is blocking the reforms.Indecision, uncertain loyalties, and pervasive corruption in the authority and in Arafatâs Fatah movement are influencing European nations -- formerly the largest source of aid to the Palestinians -- to reduce financial assistance, local and foreign observers say. These problems are creating greater receptiveness in Washington to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharonâs preparations for unilateral separation from the Palestinians, they say. Three senior US officials are due to arrive in Jerusalem today to discuss Sharonâs proposal to evacuate 17 Jewish settlements in Gaza and to make changes in the route of Israelâs controversial West Bank barrier that would make it more acceptable to the United States and Europe. "Frankly, there is chaos among the [Palestinian] security forces," said Mustafa Issa, governor of Ramallah and a longtime Arafat loyalist, "and there is much corruption." Reflecting deepening disillusionment at all levels of society, Issa said he would like to see European countries sympathetic to the Palestinian people "control this area for the next five years — eight years if they are good." Palestinians tried to administer their own affairs from the mid-1990s to the present, he said, "and we did not succeed." A senior Israeli specialist in Palestinian affairs, who spoke on condition that his name not be published, said "the feeling that things are falling apart in the Palestinian Authority is not completely new, but in recent weeks there are increasing manifestations of it really happening." Developments included the mass resignation of hundreds of members of Fatah, who faulted the organization for condoning corruption and failing to provide leadership; a rash of attacks by militants on Palestinian and other Arab journalists, who subsequently said they would refuse to cover Palestinian Authority news until law and order were restored, and sharp reductions in aid to the authority from donors in Europe who are concerned about the apparent misuse of their money. Issa and other Arafat loyalists have long blamed the Palestinian Authorityâs administrative problems on the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, but with the situation now rapidly worsening, growing numbers of Palestinians and sympathizers are publicly pointing the finger of blame at Fatah, and at Arafat himself. "It is a disaster," said Bassem Eid, director of the East Jerusalem-based Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group. "The problem is not just the occupation, it is much bigger. Nablus is ruled by thugs. The people are killing each other." At least 27 people have been killed by fellow Palestinians in Nablus in the last year, police there say. So deep has the Palestinian discontent grown that Imad Shakur, one of Arafatâs numerous advisers, recently wrote a withering critique that was published in a broad range of Palestinian newspapers, including the main newspaper of the Palestinian Authority, which is run by a close Arafat associate. Shakur urged Arafat to outlaw all militias, to dismantle Fatah, and to encourage all Palestinian factions and movements to convert themselves into political parties. "This is not an easy matter," Shakur wrote, "but the reality is not easy either. We have to take a strategic decision. When the world does not cry for our victims, and is not saddened by the uprooting of Palestine olive trees, it does not mean the world is bad. It means that our policy is wrong." International disaffection extends far beyond the United States and Israel, which have long been hostile to Arafat. European aid to the Palestinian Authority is dropping sharply as Arafat continues to block financial reforms. French and British media last week reported on huge cash transfers to Arafatâs wife, Suha, who lives in Paris, and German media followed with a report that EU investigators believe Arafat has been diverting donations to terror organizations. "The Europeans are sending him a signal in their own way," said Eran Lerman, former deputy director of Israeli military intelligence. Posted by: Dan Darling 2004-02-18 |
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