Cheers and accusations as Arafat tours West
Bank
PA Leader draws criticism after backing out of jenin visit
Yasser Arafat emerged from five months of political isolation in Ramallah on Monday to
test his popularity in the West Bank amid further uncertainty over the future of the
aspired-for Palestinian state and the fate of 13 militants banished by Israel.
The Palestinian president drew relatively small crowds and some complaints about his
leadership as he toured towns and cities battered in the past six weeks of an Israeli
onslaught that ostensibly targeted militant extremists, but wound up wrecking the
infrastructure of the Palestinian Authority.
In another setback to efforts to quickly eliminate the repercussions of heightened
tensions, the European Union delayed a decision on the countries that would host the 13
Palestinians sent into exile on Friday as part of the compromise to end the siege of
Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity.
European Commission President Romano Prodi said the EU was not trying to shirk its
political responsibility, but needed more time to work out their precise legal status once
they are taken in by the various member states which have made themselves available.
“Now we have to decide how the men will be distributed among these countries as well
as their precise legal status,” Prodi told reporters.
The militants were flown to Cyprus on Friday after spending five weeks holed up in the
Church of the Nativity. Cyprus has said it wants the men to leave by Wednesday. Asked
about this deadline, Prodi said: “It may not even take that long, but the important
thing is that we have a political decision.”
Prodi was speaking after EU foreign ministers discussed the problem at their monthly
meeting in Brussels. Media reports have suggested that six countries Belgium, Ireland,
Italy, Greece, Spain and Portugal have signaled a willingness to receive the
Palestinians.
Arafat skipped his most widely awaited stop at the devastated Jenin refugee camp, pulling
back at the last moment when aides feared he would be heckled in the stronghold for
Islamic militants. With aides holding both his arms, the Palestinian leader took a few
gingerly steps into the rubble on the edge of the camp, but turned and left without
approaching the makeshift stage or the 3,000 camp residents awaiting him.
“I’m very angry and very disappointed because Arafat did not visit the
camp,” said Mohammed Abu Ghalyoun, 43, an unemployed laborer. “He didn’t
talk to normal people, he didn’t want to meet the people who lost their sons, he
didn’t want to listen to their needs. If he isn’t interested in us, we are not
interested in him. We can endure our burdens without him.”
Until Monday, Arafat had not left the West Bank city of Ramallah for five months, and much
of that time he faced tough Israeli travel restrictions. The siege appeared to boost his
popularity, with many Palestinians viewing the Israeli
actions against Arafat as part of a larger attempt to dismantle the Palestinian leadership
and
undermine their aspirations for statehood. But on Monday, sympathy for the 72-year-old
leader appeared to have been diluted by concessions he made to Israel in recent weeks to
regain his freedom and end the standoff in Bethlehem.
On May 2, he agreed to place six wanted Palestinians in custody in the West Bank town of
Jericho, under US and British supervision. On Friday, he agreed to the Israeli demand to
send 13 wanted militants into exile, and to send another 26 from the West Bank to the more
tightly controlled Gaza Strip.
Arafat faced tremendous pressure from Israel and the US to make the deals, but it has
produced grumbling among at least some Palestinians.
“All the people in the camp supported Arafat when he was under the siege in his
compound in Ramallah,” said Mohammed Damaj, 34, a resident of the Jenin refugee camp
and an activist in Arafat’s Fatah movement. But Damaj said some were disappointed
that Arafat did not press harder for a UN inquiry into the fighting, which was scrapped
when Israel resisted.
Arafat compared the battle to Stalingrad, the bloodiest battle in World War II, between
Nazi Germany and Soviet forces.
Israeli troops were gone Monday from Palestinian cities for the first time in six weeks,
and the level of bloodshed has declined in recent days. Yet Arafat and Israeli Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon were grappling with the fallout from the surge of violence in the
preceding weeks.
While some Palestinians complained about their leadership, Sharon suffered a very public
defeat early Monday when his hard-line Likud Party ignored his pleas and voted
overwhelmingly to oppose Palestinian statehood. Sharon, who concedes that a Palestinian
state is likely to emerge someday, asked his party not to vote on the resolution, but lost
convincingly in a ballot. The action would not prevent Sharon from formally pursuing
negotiations that might lead to Palestinian statehood, but shows that he will face tough
going from his own party.
The Israeli leader was booed when he left the convention center in Tel Aviv. Sharon’s
main rival in the party, former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, successfully pushed the
resolution to rule out the creation of any Palestinian state.
Arafat responded sharply to the vote. “This is the destruction of the Oslo Accords,
which they have signed,” Arafat said, referring to the interim peace agreements he
reached with Israel in the mid-1990s.
On other West Bank stops, Arafat visited Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity, walking
arm-in-arm with Christian clergy. “This is part of my life as a Muslim, as a
Christian and as a human being,” said Arafat as he urged photographers to take
pictures of damage to the church.
“This place will be always and forever inside our hearts, minds and beliefs,” he
said during the hour-long tour.
In Nablus, he received a warm greeting from 300 people gathered in a private hall.
“We sacrifice our blood and our soul for Arafat,” the crowd chanted.
Two Palestinians were killed Monday in the West Bank. Israeli soldiers shot and killed a
man after he opened fire on troops at the main checkpoint on the edge of Bethlehem, the
Israeli Army said. It said soldiers also shot dead an armed Palestinian on Monday after he
threw a hand grenade at guards at the entrance to a West Bank army base.
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