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Palestinian Resistance Group Says It Will Disband
GAZA CITY, Feb. 11 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed offshoot of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, said Monday it is going to disband in line with a decision made in secret by the Fatah leadership last week, news agencies reported.
"We announce our full respect for the decision by the Revolutionary Council headed by Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to dissolve the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and the Popular Army Front-Return Battalions," it said in a statement received by AFP.
Senior Fatah officials in the West Bank said such deliberations were underway in Fatah's revolutionary council and that the majority favored freezing Al-Aqsa's military activities, but said no final decision had been made.
The Popular Army Front-Return Battalions, another resistance group linked to Fatah but much less active than Al-Aqsa group, said in a statement it had rejected the decision, and swore to keep on its armed resistance of the Israeli occupation.
"Our fighters will continue the resistance until the occupation is kicked out" of the Palestinian territories, it said.
Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed some of attacks in the recent flare-up of violence after its leader in the northwestern town of Tulkarem, Raed al-Karmi, was killed January 14 in an Israeli blast.
The group said it sent a woman who blew herself and an elderly Israeli man to pieces in central Jerusalem two weeks ago, just days after one of its gunmen ran amok down the same street in the disputed city.
The Saudi daily newspaper, Al-Watan, reported Sunday, February 10, that an emergency meeting of the Revolutionary Council "of Fatah Movement” headed by Arafat has made a sudden decision to freeze Al-Aqsa's military activities.
The majority of members voted for the decision, with the abstention of two members. The freezing applies also to the Popular Army Front-Return Battalions and is considered effective the minute it has been adopted.
Arafat said Sunday he was doing all he could to control the activists, and added that no one can ask him to do more. "I am doing 100% effort, but no-one can give 100% results, including the most important superpower in the world, America."
Palestinian sources told Al-Watan that “such a dangerous decision has been taken based on an Israeli and U.S. ultimatum. Both threatened to put all Palestinian leaders under home arrest, as the case has been with Arafat himself since last December.”
One of Al-Aqsa Martyrs leaders, however, considered the decision as “the most dangerous in the history of Palestinian struggle against Israeli occupation”. He stressed that it would be impossible to hold on to such a decision, in light of current Israeli continuous aggressions.
The decision is expected to draw controversy among Palestinian circles, so, Al-Aqsa Martyrs are working on “a detailed statement” to explain to the Palestinian public the reasons and deliberations behind such a decision.
Observers and analysts in the Middle East see the decision as “a good tactical move” by Arafat, and as a sign of “political maturity” in a long, bitter war against a well-powered, cunning enemy.
"By such a decision, Arafat has sent the ball back to the U.S. and Israel," an Egyptian analyst, who refused to be named, told IslamOnline Monday. "Moreover, Arafat has given a good card for his allies to play with."
“By Arafat’s allies, I mean moderate Arab leaders, European Union leaders, as well as some officials within the Bush administration itself who are opposed to Sharon’s hard-line policies," he added. "Such a move will encourage them to stand up to 'biased hawks' within the U.S. administration who want to severe ties with Arafat."
“World atmosphere in the aftermath of September 11 necessitates that Palestinians adopt other ways of resistance, at least to avoid negative impact of armed resistance operations,” the analyst said.
However, he added he is not against armed resistance: “It is just that we need to adopt other political means as well”.
With additional reporting by Khaled Mamdouh
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