Posted on 06/03/2002 5:29:32 PM PDT by blam
Israelis seal off Jericho as court frees radical leader
By Phil Reeves in Jerusalem
04 June 2002
Israel's army sealed off Jericho yesterday after a Palestinian court ordered the immediate release of a radical faction leader jailed in the West Bank town by Yasser Arafat's security force under the supervision of British and American wardens.
The ruling that Ahmed Saadat, head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), should be freed infuriated Israel, which accuses him of masterminding the assassination of its far-right-wing tourism minister.
The jailing of the PFLP leader, and five others, was the centre-piece of a deal brokered last month by the British and the Americans, which led Israel to agree to release Yasser Arafat after a month-long military siege of his West Bank headquarters.
The decision, by the Palestinian High Court in the Gaza Strip, was a setback for the latest mission by the CIA director, George Tenet, who arrived yesterday to find both sides tearing up previous American remedies for restoring regional calm. The Israeli army refused officially to confirm whether its decision to seal off Jericho was linked to the court's ruling on the PFLP leader. But Ariel Sharon, the Prime Minister, said Israel would not allow him to be freed.
"We will take all the necessary steps so that it will not be possible to release a person who was involved in murder, who ordered murder, and whose organisation carries out murders to this day," he said.
Israel Radio shed some light on the possible meaning of "necessary steps" by reporting that Israeli officials were threatening to assassinate Ahmed Saadat on his release. As Israel's armed forces have carried out scores of assassinations during the Palestinian intifada, these threats are certain to be taken seriously by Mr Arafat and his aides.
The ruling on Ahmed Saadat's release came from a three-judge panel, which found there was no evidence linking him to the killing of the 74-year-old Israeli minister Rechavam Ze'evi, who was shot dead in a Jerusalem hotel last October.
It places the Palestinian leader in a dilemma. If he acts on it, he will anger the Americans and face reprisals from Israel. Israel's Defence Minister, Binyamin Ben Eliezer, said Mr Saadat's release would free Israel from its deal in April to withdraw from Ramallah.
If Mr Arafat ignores this, he would further alienate the Palestinian population and make a mockery of his recent reforms, in which, responding to swelling domestic pressure for a more democratic system, he signed a law on the independence of the judiciary.
It would add to the hollow ring that already hovers around President George Bush's calls for the Palestinians to practice good governance. Theoretically, the court order is binding and does not require Mr Arafat's ratification but he has frequently shelved past decisions on releasing political prisoners.
One of those who brought the case, Raji Sourani, director of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, said it was a "very important test case" and called for Mr Saadat's immediate release. "In any democracy, like America or Britain, it would be scandalous not to enact a court's decision ... You can't talk about democratic reforms and human rights, and not implement court rulings."
Mr Arafat and his advisers will be acutely aware that the case is highly sensitive. The bulk of Palestinians regard the PFLP leader and his associates as heroes of their resistance against the Israeli occupation, which began with the 1967 war that started 35 years ago today. Many Palestinians were full of contempt when Mr Arafat agreed to allow them to be jailed – their Palestinian guards watched by British and Americans wardens – in return for his own freedom.
By contrast, the PFLP's assassination of Rechavam Ze'evi last October was widely applauded, partly because the Israeli minister advocated the expulsion of Arabs from the West Bank, but also because his killing was seen as just revenge for Israel's assassination of the PFLP's previous leader, Abu Ali Mustafa.
Yup. Works for me.
Mr. Reeves needs a history lesson. The PLO was founded in 1964 and Feyadeen attacked Israel uin the 1950's. Teh Arabs consider all of Israel occupied.
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