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Middle East
Yasser makes ineffectual moves to assert control
2002-02-13
  • Arafat ordered local Fatah members to disarm the rival factions - Hamas and Islamic Jihad and even some elements within Fatah - that are overpowering the PA-based bodies in the Gaza Strip. Arafat convened Palestinian leaders for a meeting last week and asked them to order their activists not to commit any terrorist attacks during Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's official visit to the United States, in light of the US's recent staunch support of Israel's retaliatory moves in the territories. They told Arafat he would first have to prevent Fatah from carrying out such attacks.

    Arafat responded by calling members of Fatah's supreme committee and PA Preventive Security Service heads - including Rajoub and West Bank General Intelligence chief Tawfik Tirawi - for a meeting on Saturday. At the meeting they discussed the future of the Aksa Martyrs' Brigades' role in the "armed struggle," as well as the possibility of converting Hamas and Islamic Jihad into exclusively non-military political bodies, internal power struggles within Fatah, corruption in the PA, and a state of lawlessness in PA areas that some described as "a lawless jungle."
    Figger the odds on getting them to disarm and drop the "armed struggle" nonsense. They're having too much fun waving their guns and watching each other explode.
    • Posted by:Fred Pruitt

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