Tensions Rising Between Arafat and Palestinian Militants

by N. Janardhan

Domestic dissent, both about the nature and timing of reforms, has coincided with word that President Yasser Arafat plans to change the make-up of the Palestinian leadership and hold presidential and legislative elections in December, the clearest timetable yet after the May 15 official announcement about reforms.

Already, tension is rising between Arafat and the radical Palestinian resistance groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which are accused of seeking to replace the PNA -- whose leadership has acquired the reputation of being bloated, corrupt and inefficient and whose critics think Arafat may no longer be capable of finding a settlement with Israel.

Some Palestinians also remain unconvinced about how far the announced reforms will go. Those like Rafat Khader, a Palestinian student at the UAE University, sees the reforms plan as a ploy.

"What we, the suffering people, want is a halt to bloodshed and freedom," he said in an interview. "Going by the 50 years of struggle and PNA's performance over the last 10 years, the latest move to change the leadership framework is not very encouraging. Of course, we hope it is sincere and will help achieve our objective."

The differences among Palestinian groups largely stem from the view of resistance groups and many followers that the reforms of the Palestinian authority are happening at the behest of Israeli and U.S. pressure.

Israeli and American officials have been stressing the need to clean up the Palestinian government structure, with Israelis saying negotiations are impossible without such changes and at one point saying the reforms should include Arafat's departure from the Palestinian leadership.

Already, many Palestinians think Arafat has made too many concessions to Israel to end his own siege at the hands of Israeli troops in Ramallah last month, and the one at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.

But Palestinian officials think otherwise. "Experience has proven that the Hamas movement has its own agenda, which is different from the national program, and it is trying to substitute the leadership of the Palestinian people," Palestinian Cabinet Secretary Tayeb Abdul Rahim said last week.

Dismissing Arafat's call to halt suicide attacks against Israeli civilians, Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin told the Arabic newspaper Al Hayat that the group will "pursue the resistance in all its forms, including martyrdom operations."

Analysts suggest that the rift is not limited to Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which are independent of the PNA. Even the armed offshoot of Arafat's own Fatah movement, the al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, has doubts about the PNA's reform call.

The rising number of recent suicide missions point to the extent of divisions within the ranks of the Palestinian groups on how to confront Israeli occupation. At least two of the attacks have been claimed by the al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades.

These suicide attacks also appear to be a direct fallout of the assassination of one of its top leaders, Raed Al Karmi, by Israeli troops in January.

But Palestinian MP Hanan Ashrawi, who has been sidelined in the present administration but is likely to gain prominence in a new Palestinian dispensation, feels that the disagreement is healthy and shows that "a debate is taking place publicly and behind doors."

The factor that would make the Brigades fall in line, she said in the Arabic daily Al Khaleej on May 28, is an immediate end to Israel's attacks on Palestinians and to the occupation itself.

Islamic Jihad and Hamas oppose the Palestinian reforms because they see them as a prerequisite for peace talks with Israel that they have long opposed.

Hamas leader Adbul Aziz Rantissi justified the group's opposition to reforms. "We're not looking for leadership, we're under occupation, fighting a battle. We prefer to be soldiers. When we are liberated, we will look for democratic ways to look for leadership," he was quoted as saying in the Gulf News last week.

There is also a demand that Hamas and Jihad be represented in Parliament so that they can be held accountable for their actions. But this would be a difficult proposition for the PNA and foreign governments to accept, because it would legitimize such groups and create an alternative political power center.

"No Palestinian organization should be left out of the legislative council," PNA delegate-general in Portugal Issam Beseisso said last week. "Hamas and Islamic Jihad are in a position to be transformed into political parties through elections."

According to the latest PNA announcement, a new government would include members of various political groups and non-political actors, and the number of ministers would be reduced to 20, or almost half its present strength.

Arafat also said this week that the PNA's security services -- which have failed to prevent either anti-Israeli attacks or the retaliation they provoke -- would be reorganized, the Palestinian daily Al Ayyam reported.

That opens the door for another complication. Jibril Rajoub and Mohammed Dahlan, West Bank and Gaza Strip security chiefs respectively, and often touted as possible successors to Arafat, are at the center of the battle for the top post in the reorganized security apparatus.

While Dahlan favors a unified force and is tipped to be the commander, Rajoub sees such a change as impractical and is bitter about the possibility of being Dahlan's subordinate.

Meantime, while the Israeli government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is seen to be procrastinating on the issue of peace talks and a final settlement, some media in Israel appear to hold different views.

The Israeli daily Haartez said in an editorial on May 29, "A different atmosphere is developing in the Palestinian leadership and Arab society, setting new rules for what are legitimate instruments in the struggle against the Israeli occupation, and which methods must be forbidden."

"This atmosphere is very important, because it could delineate the border between terror groups and the Palestinian public and its leadership, which are legitimately trying to liberate themselves from the occupation," it argued.

But just how deep dissent runs within the Palestinian territory was evident when masked men beat up the minister of non-governmental organizations, Hassan Asfour, in the West Bank two weeks ago.

Likewise, Arafat had to cancel his visit to the Jenin refugee camp two weeks ago, after the stage from where he was address the crowd was set on fire by unknown miscreants.

Still, Arafat remains a formidable figure. A poll published last week by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research said that Arafat's popularity has declined since the intifada uprising began in September 2000, but he is still is the most popular leader, enjoying the support of 35 percent of Palestinians compared to 46 percent two years ago.