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.
The Palestinian Authority has never ever been in control. Lets face it...Arafat simply acted as a figurehead. He controlled the money, the bribes, and security forces. That was the only method that made the country "function"...but he simply could not run or control the country. Abbas will likely be the last authority leader...and I'm guessing by 2008...he has to move his cabinet out of the area...probably to Egypt or Jordan. Its almost a tragic comical opera. The news media takes the entire picture to be true...yet the moment you ask any realistic questions...the real answers start to make you laugh.
Good for him!
3 of my kids live there, and my #3 son is there now on vacation with his family.
If I had more money, I would visit more often, if I could find a job there, I would make aliyah!
"Nobel Prize for Anarchy,'"
LOL! They don't have one of those, maybe they should add it!
"I thought the "PA" in the headline was about Pennsylvania, hehehe."
LOL I ALWAYS think that! Good to know I'm not the only one, happy new year!
Does this remind anyone else of the movie, "Escape From New York?" At least the situation, if not the plot. Where's Snake Pliskin when you need him?
Mark
Ping
The only "freinds" that the Clintons (plural) had in common with Arafat were named "Franklin" and lived in Switzerland. They're still there, being watched over by Yassr's merry widdow.
I have no doubt that's why the Clintons (plural, again) loved Yasser so.
Mark
Preach hatred, murder, suicideforsex, and genocide to the young and vulnerable, and then whine that you have a bunch of psychopathic killers running loose???
were they ever in control?
The battle on earth is merely a reflection of the real one waged in the spiritual realm.
This was so predicable and that is why Israel and the US weren't worried about Pali statehood becoming a reality. They knew the Pali's would screw it up, thus taking the heat/blame off of Israel.
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There needs to be 'a whole bunch of killing.'
So, would it be UN PC of me to say "PUT a damn fence around and let them kill each other"
That so-called "palestinians" are unfit to govern themselves seems indisputable. As for their equally dysfunctional backers, finaciers and apologists....
Condi has too much class for that.
This could work to Israel's benefit. Let things get bad enough, and people will emigrate to anywhere that will take them. When the only people left in Gaza are terrorists, carpet-bomb the place
When Arabs kill each other, everybody wins!
Israel just need to keep building the wall and jail any politican who has the stupid idea of letting more Arabs in on work visas. Arabs prefer to work and live in Israel than be confined to their own oppressive religion and culture.
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