Posted on 12/31/2005 8:48:19 PM PST by SmithL
Palestinian Authority officials on Saturday expressed deep concern over the growing state of anarchy and lawlessness in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, warning that the PA was rapidly losing control.
Some Palestinians compared the situation to what's happening in Somalia, which is divided by fiefdoms run by clan leaders and warlords.
"The situation in the Palestinian territories is very dangerous because we are no longer in control," a senior PA official here admitted.
He said the latest cycle of internal violence, including the kidnapping of foreigners, attacks on public buildings and installations, and gun battles between rival gangs and clans, raise serious doubts as to whether next month's parliamentary elections could be held on time.
Gunmen belonging to the ruling Fatah Party over the weekend issued several warnings to international monitors against arriving in the Palestinian territories to observe the elections.
On Saturday, a group of gunmen stormed a hotel in Nablus and kicked out a number of foreign monitors who had arrived in the city to prepare for the vote. More than 120 monitors from different countries are expected to oversee the vote.
The gunmen, who identified themselves as members of Fatah's armed wing, the Aksa Martyrs Brigades, said they were determined to foil the PA's plan to hold the elections next month. Another Fatah gang in the Gaza Strip said it would prevent foreigners from using the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.
In a surprise move, Fatah activists from Jerusalem announced that they would boycott the parliamentary elections. The activists claimed that the move was in protest against Israel's decision to "ban" Arab residents of the city from voting.
However, Fatah officials privately admitted that they were unhappy with the make-up of the Fatah list for the elections, accusing the party's leadership of failing to place Jerusalem representatives at the top.
"We will boycott the elections and we won't allow any elections to take place in Jerusalem," Hatem Abdel Kader, a top Fatah leader told The Jerusalem Post. "This means that the elections will have to be postponed." Abdel Kader and other Fatah candidates in the city announced that they would not run in the elections.
Disgruntled Fatah activists in several other areas have also vowed to prevent the PA from holding the elections. They accused the PA leadership of seeking to marginalize "young guard" representatives of Fatah, saying the party's list ignored many grassroots activists.
Over the past 48 hours, Fatah gunmen occupied several PA government buildings in various parts of the Gaza Strip, demanding jobs and money. Among the buildings targeted are the ministries of interior, economy, communications and sports.
Fatah gunmen also blocked the entrance to the Rafah crossing, preventing passengers from arriving at the terminal. Senior PA officials who tried to enter the area were turned back.
The PA's ambassador to Pakistan, Yussef al-Rabi, was forced to flee the scene together with his wife after the gunmen opened fire at their car, slightly injuring their driver. The gunmen confiscated Rabi's diplomatic passport and smashed the windows of his car.
On Friday, about 100 PA security officers went on the rampage at the Rafah terminal in protest against the death of one of their colleagues during a clash with gangsters in Gaza City. The officers fired into the air and took up positions at the terminal, forcing unarmed European monitors to flee to a nearby IDF base. No casualties were reported.
The border crossing was reopened seven hours later after the attackers agreed to evacuate the area. Also on Friday, Fathi Mushtahi, a 14-year-old boy was killed when dozens of gunmen attacked a PA police station in Gaza City in an attempt to free one of their friends, who had been detained a day earlier.
The latest upsurge in internecine fighting came as PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas began on Saturday a tour of some oil-rich Gulf countries to seek financial aid to the PA. Abbas's decision to travel abroad amid the growing anarchy drew sharp criticism from some Palestinians.
One of them, newspaper editor Hafez Barghouti, said: "I don't understand how Abbas can travel abroad under the current circumstances and on the eve of the elections. I dare to say that an authority that cares more about what's published about it in the media than the killing of its citizens and the widespread anarchy is an authority that should dissolve itself."
Barghouti, like many other Palestinians, compared the situation in the Palestinian territories to war-torn Somalia. "The recurring attacks on Palestinian Authority institutions and the kidnappings of foreigners makes it look as if we are competing with the warlords and militias in Somalia over who would win the "Nobel Prize for Anarchy,'" he said.
Dr. Jamal Majaideh, a prominent political analyst from the Gaza Strip, said the situation in the Palestinian territories was "similar to Taliban-controlled areas in Afghanistan and farms controlled by Jordanian-born terrorist Abu Musab Zarqawi in Iraq."
Referring to the kidnapping of foreigners in the Gaza Strip, Majaideh said: "It's like sitting in a Hollywood studio and watching an action film about gangs, murder and abductions. It's sad that the Palestinian Authority isn't doing anything to stop the kidnappings."
He pointed out that until now no one has been detained in connection with the kidnapping of 17 foreigners in the Gaza Strip in recent months.
Really?
What was your first hint?
BTTT
Is Kofi the Embarrasment deeply concerned yet?
Elections are coming up; where's Jimmy?
Clinton met with Arafat more than any other world leader (I know - "leader" is very loosely defined here). Surely, he still has some friends there. Where is he?
I hope Jimmiah Cartar was the first one to get his a$$ kicked out the door !!!
Look for Abbas and other "leaders" to move to Paris...
permanently.
This looks and sounds like exactly the situation for a Jimmy Carter and Jesse Jackson intervention. I'm sure they are making preperations to go as I type!
On Uranus.
FRmail me to be added or removed from this Judaic/pro-Israel/Russian Jewry ping list.
Warning! This is a high-volume ping list.
Took them long enough to finally admit it.
Is this good or bad for Israel?
Is it any wonder these animals have been thrown out of virtually every country they have settled in over there?
Like they are capable of having and running their own country now.
Die vermin, die!
The lying, hypocrite eurotrash KNOW where the only civilized people in Israel are. Their propaganda normally reads like they have to flee the ruthless Israelis to the peaceful slammies. What a load of cr*p the eurotwits are.
Nam Vet
When Israel pulled out of the West Bank, many thought it was a sign of weakness. I thought it was a brilliant move.
Now the area has devolved into anarchy and violence, as some predicted.
Let the PA handle it, and quit subsidising these terrorist b*stards with US money.
When a checkpoint was over-run by Pal. "insurgents", the EU observers retreated to an IDF base until calm was restored.
Quite telling, I thought.
My nephew just left for Israel today for vacation.
I thought the "PA" in the headline was about Pennsylvania, hehehe.
The PA is once again a failed experiment. Israel needs to take over this area once and for all.
Followed by... Ruling PA destabilized by rival factions inciting internecine war...
Leading to... Complete anarchy and chaos...
With Israel protected by a wall against the animals...
I wonder if Condi and others may have a strategy to show the world that Israel is not the bad guy here. Not that anyone would pay heed.
Not on mine, thank you!
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