Israeli amnesty offer divides militants
Al Aqsa members are skeptical that the disarmament deal will yield concrete results.
from the July 23, 2007 edition
Page 2 of 3
While numerous militants in the West Bank have accepted the amnesty offer, those interviewed by the Monitor caution that if no progress is made on key issues such as a return to the 1967 borders and an end to Israeli incursions into the West Bank, the disarmament will be short-lived. They also are calling for more Al Aqsa militants to be included on the list; in the Nablus area, 121 are included while an estimated 270 are excluded, including Tirawi and his brother Jamal, a senior Al Aqsa and Fatah member who was elected to the Palestinian parliament.
"For now, I've stopped resistance to occupation. The Palestinian Authority has promised that my life will improve as a result," says Mehdi Meruka, an Al Aqsa member who is tired after two years on the run and is cooperating with the amnesty plan. "But you have to remember that this agreement is just ink on paper. If more of my comrades aren't amnestied, if the Israelis don't stop incursions, and if progress towards a state on 1967 borders isn't made, of course we'll rise again."
He says new weapons can easily be obtained and says that to characterize what's going on as an Al Aqsa surrender is wrong. Then during a discussion of his family, he cheerfully shows a video on his phone of his three young sons – all under age 11 – learning to shoot his American-made M-16 and M-4 guns.
Hamas-Fatah divisions
Many Palestinians believe the amnesty is less about directly strengthening Israel's security and more about strengthening Fatah's ability to use its security services to target Hamas in the West Bank to prevent it from strengthening its position there and prevent it, perhaps, from eventually taking power there. A number of the men offered amnesty have been deeply involved in operations against Hamas this year.
But many, such as Da'ass Qanna, the respected Al Aqsa leader in the nearby village of Kufr Khalil, are wary that the amnesty will yield tangible results. Earlier this year men under his command kidnapped dozens of Hamas supporters and local elected officials in a program he said was designed to force Hamas to make concessions to Fatah and form a unity government, which fell apart with Hamas's Gaza takeover.
"This is a big risk for us because we don't see any concrete commitment to making concessions from Israel," he says. "I don't carry a gun because it's my hobby – if Israel withdraws, we'll have no reason to resist anymore. So we're told that what we're doing is strengthening Abbas. Ok, but there's only so much we can do for him. Without results – most important to me is an end to Israeli incursions – this all falls apart."
The hostility between Hamas and Fatah was on full display during a Hamas demonstration in Nablus last Wednesday that nearly veered into bloodshed.
Fatah-aligned secret police, soldiers, and some Al Aqsa members were out in force to contain the roughly 200 women who were peacefully demanding that some 80 Hamas supporters, most family members who were arrested by Fatah a few weeks ago, be released.
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