Last Update: 07/11/2004 03:14
Qureia asks Hamas to halt attacks in Arafat's absence
By Arnon Regular and Roni Singer, Haaretz Correspondents, and Agencies
Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia (Abu Ala) on Saturday asked Hamas leaders in the Gaza Strip to refrain from launching terrorist attacks in Israel in the absence of Yasser Arafat.
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After a long time in which Qureia refrained from visiting the Gaza Strip, on Saturday he held a four-hour meeting with the heads of the security organizations and representatives of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other groups, and members of the Palestinian Legislative Council.
Qureia told them that there is no improvement in Arafat's condition and that he would not respond to the demand to set up a united national leadership, although he promised to study the matter.
In Arafat's absence, the various groups are advancing the joint leadership idea, which will give them greater power than before.
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In addition to Suha and Farouk Kadoumi, the only surviving Fatah founder, four other senior PA leaders are in Paris - Mohammed Dahlan; Dr. Ramzi Khouri, Arafat's bureau chief; spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh; and Arafat's confidant Mohammed Rashid. Nasser Al-Kidwa, Arafat's nephew and PLO UN representative, and Palestinian millionaire Munib al-Masri are also there. The entourage is divided into two camps. Suha and Kadoumi head one camp against Rashid and Abu Rudeina. The tension and rivalry between Suha and the leadership around Arafat have been going on for awhile. One of the reasons Abbas and other senior officials refused to accompany Arafat to Paris was their reluctance to meet Suha, who is taking advantage of the French law giving the wife the authority to decide who will stay beside the husband's bed.
The fights between Suha and the Palestinian senior officials focus, among other things, on financial matters. Suha got some of her cronies to get tenders and franchises in PLO and PA deals, against the will of Arafat's people. She accused them of corruption, while they accused her of using her status to advance her cronies' interests.
Some of these accusations led to legal suits abroad and were among the reasons for Suha's leaving the territories. Rashid mediated between Suha and PA officials and managed to reach financial compromise arrangements with her. In recent years, Suha claimed that she and her daughter Zauwa were not receiving enough money to live on. Arafat's confidants, however, leaked reports of huge sums of money that were transferred to her hands.
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/498295.html