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Palestinians Protest PFLP Leader’s Arrest
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| Palestinians protests Saadat’s arrest |
DAMASCUS, Jan. 16 (News Agencies) –The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) warned Wednesday that the arrest of its leader, Ahmad Saadat, by the Palestinian Authority would lead to "total political confrontation" with the authority.
Saadat was arrested by Palestinian police in the West Bank town of Ramallah late Tuesday in connection to the October assassination of an Israel cabinet minister, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"The Palestinian Authority must realize that the arrest will put it in a situation of complete political confrontation with all nationalist and Islamic Palestinian forces, without exception, and with the Palestinian people in its entirety," the Damascus-based PFLP member said in a statement.
In the West Bank town of Ramallah late Tuesday night, 160 demonstrators gathered in front of Palestinian President, Yasser Arafat’s office where he has been under virtual house arrest since December 3, carrying red PFLP flags, Saadat posters to protest against the Palestinian police arrest of Saadat.
Protestors chanted, calling West Bank head of intelligence Tawfiq Terawi an "Israeli collaborator".
Meanwhile, hundreds gathered in Gaza City, firing off pistols and assault rifles in anger at the arrest. In Ad Duheisha refugee camp near the West Bank town of Bethlehem hundreds gathered for a protest march.
Hardline Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, had said Arafat would not be allowed to leave the West Bank town of Ramallah, where the army has blockaded him for almost six weeks, until Saadat and those responsible for the death of Israeli tourism minister, Rehavam Zeevi, were arrested.
Abdel Rahim Mallouh, the deputy leader of the PFLP, said Saadat’s arrest was "a trick" and demanded his immediate release.
"We were informed by a Palestinian Authority senior official that Saadat was not wanted, but when he arrived to a meeting with the senior official, we were surprised by Palestinian police forces which surrounded the building," Mallouh told AFP.
"To avoid confrontation, we agreed to bring him to prison by car," he added.
"It was a trick. the PFLP is a basic faction of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO). We know they did this because of outside pressure, but we demand his immediate release," Mallouh said.
In another development, Sharon has postponed a cabinet meeting scheduled for Wednesday morning until next week in which the Israeli government had been due to reassess its ties with Arafat, Israeli officials said.
The meeting was put off to allow the government to concentrate on efforts to push its 2002 budget through parliament, the officials said.
The "strategic" cabinet session had been set to focus on relations with Arafat's Palestinian Authority following Israel's seizure of an arms ship, which Israel claimed was transporting 50 tons of weapons from Iran to the Gaza Strip.
Israel said the arms, bought with the help of the Lebanese Muslim resistance group Hezbollah, were meant to give Iran a foothold in the Palestinian territories.
However, both Iran and the Palestinian Authority denied any knowledge of the arms shipment.
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