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| Monday, 19 July 2004 |
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Arafat under pressure after Palestinian PM quits RAMALLAH, West Bank, Sunday (Reuters, Xinhua) Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie quit over chaos in Gaza and militants threatened to lay down their own law, stepping up pressure on Yasser Arafat to stamp out corruption and reform his forces. Backing their demands with action, gunmen attacked and burned down a Palestinian security post in the Gaza town of Khan Younis early on Sunday, sending officers fleeing into the night. The Palestinian president - veteran symbol of a struggle for statehood - has not faced such a chorus of local and international demands for change in nearly four years of Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Arafat refused to accept Qurie's resignation. Calls for reform have multiplied amid a brewing factional power struggle in the Gaza Strip in anticipation of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's planned withdrawal of troops and settlers from the occupied territory in 2005. Submitting his resignation on Saturday, Qurie spoke of unprecedented chaos in Gaza triggered by the brief abduction of four French aid workers, the police chief and another official by gunmen demanding reforms. Arafat ordered a security shake-up in Gaza, merging 12 competing armed forces into three. After Arafat rejected his resignation, Qurie suggested his decision was on hold at least until a Palestinian Authority cabinet meeting on Monday. In the past, Arafat has paid little more than lip-service to reforms likely to diminish his influence. Thousands marched in Gaza City to protest against Arafat's choice of a new local security chief from the old guard - the president's cousin Mussa Arafat, who already heads military intelligence. Later, militants stormed the security post at Khan Younis, which was manned by officers from Mussa Arafat's organisation.Dozens of local leaders from Arafat's mainstream Fatah group quit hours after Qurie in protest at what one called the president's "unstudied decisions". "We call on the president to turn back these steps and fix the security situation in Gaza," said Abd al-Hamid al-Masri, who had been head of Fatah in the Gaza town of Khan Younis. Adding to fears that violence could spiral was a warning to Arafat from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed group within Fatah that has launched suicide bombings and gun attacks against Israelis. It urged Arafat to try officials accused of corruption and said trouble could spread to the West Bank. To those it branded corrupt, the Brigades said: "We will punish you if you don't repent and return the stolen money back to the people." A senior Arafat adviser, who declined to be named, said the trouble in Gaza was a "conspiracy by parties that wanted to weaken the Palestinian Authority and show it is collapsing". Palestinian officials say Arafat's ability to carry out reforms or rein in militants has been hampered by constant Israeli raids. Israeli Prime Minister Sharon is due to meet members of the opposition Labour Party and an ultra-Orthodox Jewish party on Sunday for talks on broadening his shaky coalition government so he can carry out the Gaza withdrawal plan. Meanwhile Arab League (AL) chief Amr Moussa expressed his deep concern over the worsening situation in the Gaza Strip ahead of an expected Israeli pullout."Moussa had a phone talk with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, expressing his confidence that the veteran leader can keep matters under his control," AL spokesman Hossam Zaki said. |
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