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Palestinians Clash in Response to Arafat's Hamas Arrests
JERUSALEM, July 24 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Several hundred Palestinians battled with police Tuesday outside the Gaza City home of a senior Palestinian intelligence official to protest a crackdown by the Palestinian Authority (PA) on "militant" activists, as called for under the Mitchell peace plan.
No-one was injured in the incident, during which demonstrators from the Palestinian Hamas movement, as well as those from the Popular Resistance Committee - which consists mainly of former members of Arafat's Fatah movement, hurled stones at the house of the official as well as at a Palestinian police station.
Hamas official Ismail Hania said the protest had been an unplanned outpouring of anger after PA police wounded three activists while trying to arrest them on Sunday.
"The accusations against Hamas are unacceptable because the demonstrations were spontaneous against the arrests and firing on members of the Popular Resistance," he told Agence France-Presse (AFP), quickly adding that there was no threat to Palestinian unity.
"We reject any confrontation apart from the one we have with the Zionist enemy," he said.
A senior Authority official who asked not to be identified told AFP that the incident was a sign Hamas, whose popularity has grown since the uprising began, was testing Arafat's political power.
"Hamas is looking to test the Authority and its strength," the official said. "The Palestinian Authority will not permit a government inside the government and will not accept the pursuit of disorder inside the Palestinian territories."
Palestinian political analyst Ghasaan Khatib played down talk of a growing rift between Arafat and the radical groups, saying the clash had been "exaggerated" by some foreign media and that neither side had changed its position.
"The incident has already been contained and it's quiet on the ground," Khatib told AFP. "There is no real tension."
Reports in recent weeks have suggested that groups like Hamas, which oppose peace talks between Arafat and Israel, are now working hand-in-hand with Arafat's Fatah militia to coordinate attacks against Israel.
Israeli army chief Shaul Mofaz towed the Israeli government line Tuesday by again calling Arafat's self-rule authority a "terrorist entity." Israel has accused Arafat of failing to honor his commitment under the ceasefire to arrest attackers.
But, the Palestinians hit back with a counter-claim on Tuesday, saying they would give Israeli and U.S. intelligence officials a list of 50 Israeli "terrorists" it wanted arrested.
"The Palestinian National Authority has proof and evidence of the participation of these 50 people in barbaric crimes against the Palestinian people," West Bank intelligence chief Tawfiq Tirawi told Al-Ayyam newspaper.
Tirawi said that the list of "terrorists" would be presented on Wednesday at a planned security meeting with Israel and CIA representatives.
"They will demand Israel take measures against those criminals," he said. "If Israel does not take measures against them, they will bear the responsibility because they [the Palestinians] will not allow those settlers to rampage in the Palestinian lands."
Palestinian general intelligence chief Amin Al-Hindi said Sunday that he planned to present information at the meeting specifically regarding those suspected of killing three members of a Palestinian family, including a 3 month old baby boy, near the West Bank town of Hebron last week. Israeli police have so far failed to arrest the Jewish militants suspected in the case.
Meanwhile, a militia linked to Arafat's Fatah faction claimed responsibility for the shooting and stabbing death of an Israeli teenager on Tuesday.
"We in Al-Aqsa Brigades are responsible for the kidnapping and killing of the Israeli settler in Ramallah," an activist announced through a loudspeaker at the funeral of a 15-year-old boy in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.
The body of 18-year-old Yuri Gushtzin, who had gone missing in a Jewish settlement in occupied east Jerusalem, was found near Ramallah early Tuesday.
"There's no doubt that this murder and the others before it were committed at the urging of Arafat, who has given instructions to kill a Jew every day," Israeli Public Security Minister Uzi Landau charged.
While tensions boiled over on both sides in the wake of more bloodshed, Palestinians continued to accuse Sharon of defying the European Union (EU) and the United States by refusing to carry out peace moves outlined in the Mitchell report.
The plan calls for, among other measures, a freeze on Jewish settlement building and a pulling back of Israeli troops to their positions before the outbreak of violence last September.
But, Sharon insisted he would not implement the internationally-backed peace plan without complete calm, despite pressure from Israeli hardliners to abandon a self-declared policy of "restraint" towards the Palestinian uprising.
However, Javier Solana, the EU's foreign policy supremo and one of the authors of the Mitchell peace plan, said he believed there had been some progress towards ending the fighting.
"We need of course a quiet situation, we need to continue condemning terrorism, but we think that the moment is approaching to get the process moving," he said after meeting Peres.
In an unusual way of displaying international interest in peace, 20 young peace activists from the United States, Canada and Europe said Tuesday they intended to stay for a week in the West Bank town of Beit Jala, which was badly hit during the first months of the uprising, in order to act as "human shields" against possible Israeli attacks.
During a news conference in Jerusalem, the human rights activists announced that they would be the guests of Palestinian families living on the "front line" of clashes between the Palestinians and the Israeli army.
The 20 activists gave a statement calling for an "international protection force" to be sent to the Palestinian territories, and supported the Palestinian right to "resistance against the occupation."
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