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October 19, 2001/Cheshvan 2, 5762, Vol. 54, No. 6
Arafat straddles the fence
GIL SEDAN
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
JERUSALEM - Yasser Arafat is facing what may prove the most serious threat to his leadership since he returned from exile in 1994 to lead the Palestinian Authority.
A week after three Palestinians were killed following a Hamas-led demonstration in the Gaza Strip in support of suspected terror mastermind Osama bin Laden, Gaza remains tense.
On Oct. 14, the families of Palestinians killed during the demonstration threatened to organize mass street protests unless those responsible for the deaths were punished.
The threat was issued a day after a third Palestinian died from wounds suffered during the Oct. 8 clashes. Two died at the demonstration, during which 10 Palestinian police were injured.
Immediately after the demonstration, Palestinian police ordered the closure of several schools, briefly arrested at least one Palestinian journalist who had been critical of the Palestinian Authority, and kept foreign journalists from entering Gaza to prevent coverage of any future demonstrations.
Arafat has been in a bind since the Sept. 11 terror attacks against the United States.
Arafat has been forced to choose between President Bush and bin Laden, and he chose Bush, at least initially. He made the choice as a matter of survival, even if the decision ultimately pits him against Palestinian militants, who overwhelmingly support bin Laden.
Arafat became the first Arab leader to condemn the attacks against the World Trade Center and Pentagon and express support for the international anti-terror coalition Bush began building. Bush responded by making two recent statements supporting the creation of a Palestinian state.
On Oct. 15, after meeting with Arafat in London, British Prime Minister Tony Blair also gave his support for the creation of a "viable Palestinian state."
While Arafat and Bush are giving each other mutual support, there is a growing rift separating Arafat from radical Palestinian Islamists.
Faced with American warnings that he could be considered part of the terrorist camp if he did not come out squarely against bin Laden, Palestinian police arrested several Islamic terrorists for the first time since the intifada began last fall.
Yet, in an effort to follow up on Bush administration requests to defuse Israeli-Palestinian violence, over the weekend Arafat reportedly reached an agreement with Hamas and Islamic Jihad that the two groups would refrain, at least temporarily, from carrying out terror attacks on Israeli targets.
Publicly, however, there was no sign that the groups had reached such an agreement.
An incident recently could well spark renewed terror attacks against Israel.
On Oct. 14, Israeli soldiers shot and killed Abed-Rahman Hamad, a Hamas leader accused of dispatching the suicide bomber who carried out the June 1 attack outside a Tel Aviv disco that killed 21 Israeli youth.
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