Arafat is criticized for failure to handle the crisis in Palestinian territories

CAIRO, August 22 (IslamOnline.net) - Egypt has temporarily halted talks with the Palestinian factions over formulating a unified national Palestinian plan of action over the post-Israeli withdrawal era from Gaza Strip, pending a decisive action from Palestinian President Yasser Arafat to contain the current inter-Palestinian problems, according to Egyptian and Palestinian sources Sunday, August 22.

"Egypt has taken this decision after intensive talks with influential Palestinian parties, including the Fatah officials from which it sensed that Arafat is the one holding the clues of solution to the internal Palestinian conflict, but yet he is not ready for taking such decisions," the sources told IslamOnline.net.

According to the sources, asking not to be unidentified, Egypt has told Arafat it was necessary to handle the internal Palestinian conflict through taking decisive decisions to end the state of insecurity in the Palestinian territories, iron out corruption, close the Palestinian ranks and abandon his security responsibilities.

The expected visit of the Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman to Israel and the Palestinian territories within the coming days will also touch on urging the Palestinian leader to take decisive decisions in this regard, the sources added.

According to the sources, Egypt and a number of European countries expressed dissatisfaction over the way Arafat is handling the current crisis in the Palestinian territories.

"Arafat is handling the internal crisis the same way he has been using for 10 years as he tried to silence his opponents either by money or promises to hold posts, but this method is no longer fruitful," the sources said.

The Palestinian President had admitted  Wednesday, August 18 mistakes made by "some corrupt officials" in the Palestinian Authority, promising to exert utmost efforts to correct such defects.

"Some unacceptable mistakes have been made by our institutions and some have abused their positions and violated the trust that has been placed in them."

On the stance of Hamas and Jihad movements to launch inter-Palestinian dialogue to close the Palestinian ranks, the sources said the two movements still refuse to hold this dialogue without having Arafat allow the representation of all Palestinian factions in the national Palestinian leadership.

For his part, secretary general of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine Naif Hawatma told IslamOnline.net that Arafat's current efforts to solve the crisis will prove futile as he adopts the same way he used to.

He revealed that efforts are under way to hold a general Palestinian conference to close Palestinian ranks and formulate a national Palestinian program.