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Arafat in dispute with his security chiefs

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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