World>Terrorism & Security
posted July 20, 2004, updated 12:45 p.m.
Arafat quells another crisis, for now
The Palestinian Authority power struggle in Gaza could flare up again.
On the surface, it appears Yasser Arafat, once again, has weathered a major crisis.The
Associated Press reported that Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia, who had tendered his resignation on Saturday thereby precipitaing a crisis in the governing authority, announced Tuesday morning he "
will stay in his job." The announcement ended what was "developing into the
most serious challenge to Arafat since he returned to the Palestinian territories from exile some 10 years ago," reports
Arab News. The Palestinian Cabinet crisis exploded after a series of kidnappings and demonstrations in Gaza last week that quickly turned violent, followed by Arafat's appointing new security officials. He "appointed his
widely disliked cousin, Moussa Arafat, to the top security job in Gaza, but was forced to replace him with the previous Gaza security chief," reported
AP. But whatever backpeddling Arafat does to restore order to Gaza, "Make no mistake the crisis in Palestinian governance still simmers near boiling" and "
could flare at any time," reports the Israeli daily,
Ha'aretz. It could break out again because the underlying causes for the confrontation, widely seen "as a power struggle between Arafat's old guard and younger rivals
staking out turf before Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon carries out a plan to remove Jewish settlements from the Gaza Strip by the end of 2005," are still in place, reports
Newsday. Analysts believe that Arafat, "is
merely buying time as he sees how the situation plays out on the ground," reports the
Times of London.
From the outset, Qureia was "clearly angry that Arafat
refused to yield power over the security forces, and at the lack of authority the Cabinet has to make and carry out decisions," reports
Ha'aretz. Qureia told the cabinet he "saw himself only as a caretaker premier."It appears that his frustration on the issue of governance was brought to a boil
with the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, reports
The Christian Science Monitor:
For several months, it has been clear that Gaza, the long-troubled slice of land from which Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has promised to withdraw in the near future, would test the Palestinian leadership's ability to assert control. What is only now becoming apparent is that groups jostling for power in the Gaza of tomorrow are not waiting until the last Israeli settlers and soldiers are pulled out. Instead, they are trying to establish their supremacy as soon as possible. A
Boston Globe, editorial, bluntly places
blame for the power struggle in Gaza squarely on the shoulders of Arafat:
There is a crisis in Gaza today because Arafat, once the embodiment of Palestinian national aspirations, never altered his gang boss style of leadership forged in the PLO's clandestine era. All the money passed through Arafat's hands, and he wrote all the checks. Like police state rulers in Damascus and Baghdad, he appointed and controlled the heads of several security services. But this wouldn't be the Middle East if blame were so cut and dry. In a column in Monday's
Al-Hayat, Jihad Al Khazen sees the Palestinian leadership struggle as the outcome of manipulations by Israel to undermine any
"true" Palestinian state in the West Bank, therby necessitating a power struggle to prevent Egypt from seizing governing control of Gaza.
In appearance, the Israeli Prime Minister is carrying out a withdrawal plan in Gaza, but in reality, he is planning to undermine the two-state solution; for he is seeking that Egypt restores its power in Gaza, hoping it will rejoin it if things went too bad. In addition, the security separation wall in the West Bank closes Israel and Jerusalem to Palestinians. He is seeking to facilitate the Palestinians transports between both the Eastern and the Western banks in order that Palestinians become a Jordanian responsibility. Should they ever have a state of their own, it would be in Jordan, not in Palestine. In its lead editorial Monday,
Arab News warns of the potentially
bitter fruit that awaits Palestinians with the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
Having sought for over half-a-century Israel's withdrawal from occupied Palestinian lands, an obstacle has arisen that might prevent precisely such a handover. As the lawlessness increases, as splinter groups and rival factions jockey for power before Israeli troops and settlers withdraw from Gaza, the breakdown in law and order in Gaza could be but a taste of what will happen if Israel leaves altogether, an unexpected topsy-turvy situation. For Israeli analysts, "topsy-turvy" can be viewed as a euphemism making palatable the more ominous outcome of a power struggle in Gaza:
a Palestinian civil war, reports South Africa's
The Star. Some degree of
chaos appears inevitable suggests the
Jerusalem Post in an editorial.
... a generation of Palestinian leaders - none with Arafat's cult-of-personality status and consequent ability to provide a de-facto umbrella of legitimacy for terrorism - will begin to assume some authority in their areas of influence without being able to assert overall control of the Palestinian movement. ...The question is whether a new leadership will jettison the hallmark of Arafat's rule: when faced with a choice between beginning the building of Palestine or continuing the attempt to destroy Israel, consistently and at all costs choosing the latter. Arafat must
relinquish "most of his authority over security forces," writes the Monitor in its lead editorial for Tuesday.
...the real battle against terrorism in the Middle East is the steady push for government reforms in every capital that will result in elected leaders who truly seek peace in the region.
Also...
•
'I do not deal with the old man under siege' (
London Times - subscription)
•
Palestinian PM agrees to stay on (
BBC)
•
'Arafat has destroyed Palestine' (
Guardian)
• Feedback appreciated. E-mail
Jim Bencivenga
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