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| Israel-Palestine |
| Palestinians demand Arafat cousin's sacking, push to end crisis |
| 2004-07-25 |
| Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat faced new challenges in the Gaza Strip after gunmen took over a governor's office demanding he sack his cousin Moussa as Gaza security chief and activists called for people's congresses to end the latest unrest. A militant of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade told AFP by telephone from the governor's office that the gunmen were demanding the departure of Moussa Arafat and the reinstatement of more than 50 security officers. Militants in the Brigades have associated themselves with the violent protests in Gaza for the past two weeks against Arafat's appointment of Moussa, accused of being corrupt, as the territory's security chief. But on Saturday, the West Bank faction of the Brigades dissociated the group from the protests in the Strip and accused unnamed elements of "knowingly fomenting a crisis in Gaza in order to make the American-Zionist plan succeed", implying that their group was being framed for the violence. The Brigades are divided into dozens of smaller armed groups scattered across the West Bank and Gaza, answering to local chiefs. Saturday's statement, which runs counter to Brigades statements from Gaza, was authenticated by top officials of the group in the north of the West Bank contacted by AFP. It said the Brigades have "nothing to do, from either up close or afar, with these suspicious acts" in Gaza. Meanwhile in a twist on the political manoeuvring which saw Palestinian prime minister Ahmed Qorei offer his resignation last week, Arafat on Saturday denied that there was any power struggle between him and his premier. Qorei "has my entire confidence and there is no problem over prerogatives," the Palestinian leader said. He added: "I will accept everything that Qorei asks, but up to now he has not presented any specific demands to me." Qorei has been seeking more control over the security services, over which Arafat has insisted on maintaining an iron grip. At the governor's office, witnesses earlier said some 20 armed and masked men forced everyone out of the building early Saturday morning and took control of it. Palestinian security sources said the gunmen ended their five-hour siege at about noon after an agreement was reached for the security officers to return to work. Earlier, the Brigades' militant, who identified himself as Abu Ahmed, listed their demands as "the reforms demanded by the Palestinian people, (that) corrupt officials be fired and (that) the nomination of Musa Arafat to be cancelled." Palestinian negotiations minister Saeb Erakat had warned Friday that the Palestinian territories were sliding into "chaos." Palestinian activists called Saturday for people's congresses to be held in all areas of the Gaza Strip to end the unrest. "People's congresses should be set up with the aim of democratic reform of institutions in order to fight corruption and enforce respect for the law," said the Committee of Nationalist and Islamist Forces, which links Arafat's Fatah and the radical Hamas group. The congresses would "put an end to the absurd conflict between the forces and relevant services of the Palestinian Authority," said a committee statement. The committee also appealed for free and democratic elections, which would be the first since 1995, with the prospect of Israeli withdrawal from Gaza next year. Last week the committee called for sweeping democratic reforms, an end to anarchy and corruption and for corrupt officials to be prosecuted. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 Not to fear. The "crisis" is almost at an end. There's only a few more miles of fence to erect and then everybody's problems are over ... Well, at least the Israelis'. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2004-07-25 1:44:15 AM |