Arafat in dispute with his security chiefs
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Special to World Tribune.com
MIDDLE EAST NEWSLINE
Wednesday, February 13, 2002
RAMALLAH Ñ Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat has fallen
out with his security chiefs amid a dispute over the future of the war with
Israel.
Palestinian sources said Arafat is engaged in a bitter dispute with his
two leading security chiefs and heir potentates Ñ Col. Mohammed Dahlan and
Col. Jibril Rajoub.
Both men have quarreled with Arafat over his refusal to authorize
Palestinian forces to end the rash of militias in the West Bank and Gaza
Strip and stop Hamas rocket attacks.
"Jibril spoke very clearly," Fatah leader Hussein Al Sheik said.
The feud reached a boiling point on late Monday, the sources said,
during a meeting between Arafat and his security chiefs. Arafat, under
pressure from the United States to end the war, blamed Rajoub for his
failure to stop a Palestinian mob from breaking into a PA jail in Hebron and
freeing Islamic insurgents. Arafat also accused Rajoub of distributing
leaflets that announced the disbanding of Fatah militias.
Rajoub, whose forces received significant aid from Washington, responded
that he could not impose order in the West Bank as long as Arafat does not
order a ban on militias. The two men began to argue and shout in the
corridor and at one point Arafat drew a pistol and pointed it at Rajoub's
head.
An Israeli security source confirmed the account. But Rajoub aides deny
that Arafat pulled out his pistol and said the security chief remains in his
post. They said Arafat has been under increasing strain from the Israeli
military siege around his Ramallah headquarters.
Earlier, Arafat engaged in a similar argument with Dahlan, who heads PA
security in the Gaza Strip. At one point, Dahlan refused to attend the
security dialogue with Israel in protest.
Palestinian sources said the fallout between Arafat and his security
chiefs comes as the Palestinian leader is being increasingly ignored by his
Fatah movement. The sources said Fatah chiefs, including West Bank leader
Marwan Barghouti, dismissed Arafat warnings to end attacks against Israel
and end the movement's militias.
Moreover, a key Palestinian political leader, Sari Nusseibeh, has also
resigned as Arafat's representative in Jerusalem amid disagreements over the
war with Israel.
On Wednesday, Israeli troops, backed by tanks and armored personnel
carriers, raided Palestinian areas in the Gaza Strip and destroyed three
Palestinian Authority police positions. The raids included an incursion
around the Palestinian refugee camp of Jabalya north of Gaza City, Beit
Lahiya and the Muazi refugee camp in central Gaza. Palestinian sources said
three Palestinian
security officers were killed. The troops stayed several hours in the PA
areas and left.
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