Israel Puts Palestinian Areas Under Lockdown

by Ferry Biedermann

They shiver in the sudden cold spell that has accompanied the tightened Israeli cordon around their town. But many of them are not allowed through, at least as long as Yasser Arafat, according to the Israeli government, is not doing enough to crack down on militants.

There has been a lull in the fighting since Israeli helicopter gunships and fighter aircraft blasted Arafat's offices and targets of his Palestinian Authority a few days ago. Other Israeli measures, such as closures and incursions into Palestinian towns continue, however.

Arafat has been given an ultimatum to start acting against extremists who killed 25 Israeli's in suicide attacks last weekend and the Palestinians are being made to feel the seriousness of the situation.

"I'm stuck here with my three children while my wife is at home on the other side," says Ahmad Hamad, a construction worker who lives on the Jerusalem side of the checkpoint but is stuck in Ramallah.

He was visiting his parents, and his children have to go to school again the next day, he says. "Because I recently moved, my identity paper still says that I live in Ramallah so they won't let me through."

An Israeli soldier who is standing guard on the Jerusalem side is clear about his orders. "If they live in Jerusalem, then what business do they have in Ramallah, and the other way around as well."

The usual traffic jam at the checkpoint has disappeared, though, because cars are not allowed through at all since the suicide attacks.

It is only the second time during this intifada that Hamad remembers the closure to be so complete, usually people are let through or they make their way along back roads. He still thinks the inconvenience is worth it, though.

"We have no other choice than to fight. We gave them the peace process and they spoiled it, now all we can do is resist the occupation."

In Ramallah the cold and the uncertainty of the situation keeps people inside. Normally the streets would be bustling with shoppers for the feast at the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, which is a bit over a week away. Yasser Arafat and his advisers are gathered in his compound just outside the center of town. On one side of the entrance a gaping black hole in a police post shows where an Israeli missile impacted on Dec. 4.

The PA has forbidden its officials to talk to the press, not an easy thing to get used to for the normally talkative ministers and officers, but this is a state of emergency, says Arafat. One security official says, on condition of anonymity, that the Israeli measures are not making it easier for Arafat to act against the militants.

"We can handle Hamas and Jihad but it gets harder if we also have to tackle the rest of the Palestinian public. If we act now we look as if we are giving in to Sharon's demands."

That is exactly what is happening, though, says Sha'wan El-Jabarin of the Ramallah-based human rights organization Al-Haq. "The PA is making arbitrary arrests under pressure from Israel and the United States," he claims, referring to the more than 120 arrests made by the PA after the suicide attacks over the weekend, mostly among members of the Islamist groups Hamas and Jihad who claim responsibility for the attacks.

Most of the 70 arrests on the West Bank were made in the Ramallah area, according to El-Jabarin. "We know most of those people and many of them are indeed involved in one way or another with Hamas or Jihad but others are simply just religious or have the wrong friends."

He says Al-Haq does not oppose the right of the PA to make the arrests in principle but it objects to the absence of due process.

The state of emergency that the PA imposed after the weekend attacks is meaningless, says El-Jabarin. "The PA made arbitrary arrests before the state of emergency, they are doing it now the same as before and they will continue even if the state of emergency is ever going to be lifted."

The many arrests in the Ramallah area briefly led to confrontations between security forces and residents of a refugee camp on Dec. 3. Since then the PA has reimposed order and there are no more security personnel on the streets then usual. Similar riots took place in Gaza last night, after the PA put the Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Yassin under house arrest, were also put down.

Nabil Kokali, the director of the Palestinian Center for Public Opinion, is convinced that Arafat is in charge of the situation. "There will not be a civil war here, the people know that an internal confrontation will do tremendous harm to the national interest."

Hamas has called on its activists to disobey the PA request for a cease-fire, but less than a quarter of the population supports Hamas and Jihad and even fewer are actively involved, says Kokali.

"The Israeli attacks have shown the people how desperate the situation is and they understand the difficult position of the PA," says Kokali. Besides, Arafat "is still the man," he says, and the people identify even more with him now that he has become a personal target of the Israelis.