Fatah no longer taking orders from Arafat

RAMALLAH — A leader of Yasser Arafat's Fatah movment said most Palestinians will not accept any ceasefire.

Fatah leader Sakhr Habash said the Palestinians will simply ignore any call for a ceasefire by Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat. He said Arafat no longer controls many Palestinian groups, including members of his Fatah faction.

"Arafat is our leader and we respect his orders," Habash said. "Nevertheless, the anger of the people in our cities is enormous. There is great disappointment. They were all expecting the negotiating process to produce results, but look what pass we have come to. There are undoubtedly groups and areas beyond control."

Habash said he expects a long fight with the Israelis. He said that unlike the Hizbullah in Lebanon, the Palestinians are not receiving any military help from Iran or the Arab nations, Middle East Newsline reported.

"Our goal is to force Israel to withdraw from our land," he said. "We know it will do so when the occupation becomes too costly in human terms."

PA officials said the Palestinians, including the Islamic opposition, have joined forces in continuing the campaign against Israel until it agrees to a withdrawal from all the territories captured in the 1967 war. They said they are hoping that a combination of Israeli casualties as well as international pressure will change the policy of Prime Minister Ehud Barak.

On Wednesday, PA security chief Mohammed Dahlan said in a meeting with journalists in Gaza that the PA has raised three conditions for the return of negotiations with Israel. These are the end to the Israeli attacks, the arrival of an international peacekeeping force, and agreement that the negotiations would lead to an end to the Israeli occupation.

But the return to negotiations would not end the uprising, PA officials said. Instead, Fatah has warned of an escalation in attacks.

At the same time, Fatah and PA officials have not ruled out a return to negotiations.

"There is one condition to stop the uprising," Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti said. "This is the ending of the occupation and settlements, attaining freedom, sovereignty, and independence in the Palestinian territories, and establishing a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital."

Officials said PA Chairman Yasser Arafat is willing to return to the negotiating table with Barak. But Arafat will not order an end to the attacks until Israel agrees to abandon its proposals submitted at the Camp David summit in July. The proposals envisioned Israeli control over about five percent of the West Bank and parts of eastern Jerusalem.

"The Israelis think they can bend the will of the Palestinians by military means," Habash said. "They are hoping to grind us down. Actually, they are throwing away a great opportunity to strike a deal. We know we cannot win by force of arms, but we are fighting anyway. The goal is peace, not war."