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We Are No More Able to Provide Security: Palestinian Authority
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Arafat has been intimidated by Bush and Sharon to accept Israeli visions of a settlement
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Report by Khaled Mamdouh, IOL Staff
CAIRO, September 20 (IslamOnline) – Israeli forces have been launching a destructive war against the infrastructure and personnel of Palestinian security forces. Currently, the Palestinian Authority's security forces are totally devastated, unable to provide security for the Palestinians, let alone for the Israelis, Palestinian officials told IslamOnline Friday, September 20, 2002.
Chief Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Erakat, said that the Israeli occupation forces are now controlling the West Bank and most of Gaza Strip, 'with no role at all for the Palestinian security'.
"To be clear, there is no Palestinian security, any more. How can the Americans or the Israelis blame the PA for attacks inside Israel, whereas our security men are targeted by the occupation fire?" wondered Erakat.
The Palestinian official, speaking over the phone to IslamOnline, lashed out at the U.S. and Israel over what he termed " a campaign of psychological and physical intimidation against (Palestinian President Yasser) Arafat to force him to yield to the Israeli terms of settlement.
"They (Israeli Prime Minister and U.S. President George W. Bush) want Arafat to accept a Palestinian entity on 42% of the lands of the West Bank, and 70% of Gaza, with no sovereignty, and to drop the issues of Jerusalem and refugees.
"However, they will never find a single Palestinian to go along with their plans. The Palestinian cause will not be solved unless the independent Palestinian state on the lands of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital, sees the light. Sharon and Bush must come to terms with that or face the consequences," Erakat added.
The Russian Foreign Ministry, for its part, echoed the same meaning Friday, in a statement condemning Israel's siege of Arafat's headquarters in Ramallah.
Israel's blockade "seriously hampers the Palestinian administration's ability to fight against terrorism, and complicates the already-dramatic situation on the Palestinian territories," the Ministry said.
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| Israeli forces, not Palestinian ones, are in charge of providing security |
Secretary General of the Palestinian Cabinet, Ahmed Abdul Rahman, also mocked Israeli claims about Arafat's responsibility for the attacks.
"This must be a joke. For Sharon to blame the Palestinian Authority for attacks in Tel Aviv, he must be joking. How can we prevent such attacks while we have no security forces in the first place?" Abdul Rahman said on Qatar-based al-Jazeera Satellite Channel.
In a separate related development, an Israeli sniper shot dead a Palestinian policeman inside Arafat's headquarters Friday as the occupation army flattened every other building in the Palestinian leader's compound.
And in Gaza, a Palestinian policewoman was also killed earlier.
"Following every Palestinian resistance operation inside Israel or in the illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank or Gaza, Israel and the United States put the blame on Arafat and the Palestinian Authority," one Palestinian told IslamOnline.
"With almost all Palestinian towns, cities and villages under strict Israeli occupation, it is not logic for the Israelis or Americans to expect Arafat or his devastated PA to do anything to provide security for the Israelis, simply, they are not able to defend themselves. However, it seems that logic no more applies to Sharon or Bush," he added.
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